Harvest is plenty, labourers few: This yr, bumper jackfruit crop stays on tall trees

Panaji: A fairly good jackfruit crop this season has brought cheer to farmers, as the jumbo fruit is fetching a price worth its value. Lack of harvesters and a fruit rot, however, has disappointed the owners and consumers alike.
Goa has a large jackfruit tree population, especially in midland and hinterland talukas. A good harvest has increased its visibility by the roadside and the market place.But scores of fruits can still be seen rotting on trees, as climbers to pluck it are too few or the wages for the high-risk job are too high for trade economics.
“Till recent past, harvesting was not a problem. Even I would climb trees and we would tie a rope around the fruit and send it down,” Madhu Gaonkar, a farmer from Marcela, said.
With a change in lifestyle and occupations, even coconut farmers faced the same challenge before tree-climbing devices bailed them out. For jackfruit harvesting, there is more than one problem.
Maturing of the fruit is at different stages and staggered harvesting becomes unviable for farmers. Some trees jut out tall with multiple branches and fruits are inaccessible to bamboo poles, which help low-level plucking.
“Each trip up the tree may be charged up to Rs 500 for a short while, depending on the climber’s fancy,” Gaonkar said.
The fruit is selling reasonably well, though, as it’s a good alternative for some, after mango faded out. The biggest fruit can be eaten as a snack, which may be a meal for some.
“Jackfruit is a wonder fruit which blends with many vegetables, legumes and pulses and has lots of health benefits,” Sunetra Talaulikar, a former home scientist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (North), ICAR said.
The jackfruit tree and its product can be fully utilised in diverse ways as timber and food. “Like the coconut tree is ‘kalpa vriksha’, every part of it can be put to good use, including its leaves and bark. At various stages of jackfruit maturity, different dishes and items can be made from vegetable items to snacks and chips,” Talaulikar said.
But the other threat to the jackfruit crop is fruit rot that renders a part of it inedible. “Rot in jackfruit is caused by fungus (Rhizopus artocarpi). It causes premature fall of young fruits due to rotting and may result in heavy loss in yield under very humid conditions,” S Priya Devi, principal scientist (fruit science) ICAR said.
The soft rot initially shows up as a small patch of greyish growth of fungus. “Then it turns into a blackish growth. Eventually, it spreads to the whole fruit that drops off,” the scientist said.
Spraying young fruits with fungicide at an interval of two to three weeks during Jan, Feb and March can curb the rot.
Pandurang Patil, ICAR’s innovative farmer national awardee, has improvised a device — a knife attached to a pole to detach the fruit from the ground — while a bucket alongside gathers it. “This helps bring the fruit safely to the ground,” he said.
Sanjay Patil, a Padma Shri-winning farmer sends a climber atop. “After he cuts the fruit it lands in a nylon net placed below to prevent damage to the fruit,” he said. He also uses a pole with a curved knife used by arecanut farmers to pluck it from the ground.