Two-day Jackfruit mela begins in Mangalore

Mangalore, Jun 28: A huge sum of Rs 296 lakhs has been allotted in the state budget for the district for the development of horticulture, said Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr K N Vijayaprakash.

Speaking at the inaugural programme of the fourth annual jackfruit mela 2013 jointly organised by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mangalore, and Karnataka Veterinary and Fisheries Science University, Bidar, at Fisheries College on the outskirts of the city on Friday, he said that the Zilla panchayat had proposed to take up steps to encourage the plantation of traditional fruits.

Work to plant saplings in government schools, anganwadis and hostels will be undertaken, as there is a need to bring awareness on traditional fruits among school children who are not aware of its heritage value. A project has also been undertaken to assemble tree-lined avenues in the district, he said.

“Jackfruit is being grown in 5,421 hectares of land in the state of Karnataka, out of which 838 hectares were in Dakshina Kannada district. However, with the increasing variety of hybrid and other fruits in the market, jackfruit is losing its value these days even though it is a sustainable fruit,” he said and added that provision of facilities to farmers such as loans should be made easier in the direction of lending encouragement to farmers and agriculturists. “We ought to cooperate with farmers and help them with their living. We should also grow more fruit in the direction of preserving the environment,” he said.

President of Dakshina Kannada Krishika Samaja S D Sampath Samrajya inaugurated the jackfruit exhibition and mela.

Speaking at the programme, he said that concern for farmers was essential. With the advent of globalisation, a gap was created between urban and rural population which has steadily increased over the years. In the process, farmers and growers are losing their self-confidence and are forced to migrate to cities in search of greener pastures.

To stop the traditional method of farming from losing its importance, the government has taken several steps to avoid migration of people from villages to cities. The economy of rural regions should increase to that of the urban areas, he said.

“The present generation should become aware of the importance of agriculture. Although jackfruit is highly organic and indigenous to India, it has become a neglected crop today, which deserves its due respect,” he said.

Variety of organic eatables and preparations of jackfruit were displayed in stalls in the two-day mela. Homemade jackfruit papads, jams, squashes, chips and dried eatables of the fruit were kept for display and sale in the stalls, which were crowd-pullers. People were also seen purchasing saplings of the fruit which were kept for sale.