Jackfruit is Bangladesh's national fruit, but as a seasonal fruit it is not available all year, and no storage system has developed for the season, reducing its economic value. Local agricultural scientists have worked to overcome these barriers, and scientists at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) have developed three jackfruit varieties for a year-round harvest.
Spreading the varieties
Extension has already begun. BARI scientists said that, initially under a project funded by the Krishi Gobeshona Foundation and with help from the private organisation SAUDA, the varieties are being spread in Ramgarh (Khagrachhari), Narsingdi, Gazipur and Mymensingh. In each district, seedlings have been distributed to 25 farmers and five nurseries, and farmers receive regular training, with plans to cover the whole country.
Three harvest windows
Jackfruit grows everywhere in Bangladesh, but the high lands of Dhaka, Bhaluka, the Bhawal and Madhupur tracts, the Sylhet hills, Rangamati and Khagrachhari produce the most. Usually it is available for no more than three months a year. The three varieties are:
- BARI-1, high-yielding, harvested in May-June, 118 tonnes per hectare;
- BARI-2, a high-yielding off-season variety harvested in January-April, 58 tonnes per hectare;
- BARI-3, a high-yielding, regular-bearing year-round variety harvested from September to June, 133 tonnes per hectare.
All three can be grown across the country.
Better prices, better nutrition
Md Zillur Rahman, senior scientific officer in BARI's Fruit Division in Gazipur, who has long researched jackfruit, said the three varieties will provide jackfruit all year, and off-season fruit will also be tasty, letting people enjoy it year-round and growers sell at higher prices. The country has countless unnamed jackfruit types, including many year-round ones scattered across the country, and steps have been taken to conserve them, he said.
Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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