Welcome to Kattakkada, the jackfruit town

A jackfruit revolution has taken root in Kattakkada panchayat

July 12, 2018 05:00 pm | Updated 05:00 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

 A jackfruit tree laden with fruits

A jackfruit tree laden with fruits

A town with jackfruit of different varieties. That’s what ‘Chakkappattanam’ is all about. An initiative of Kattakkode Service Cooperative Bank, Kattakkada, the project is banking on planting 5,000 jackfruit trees in 11 wards of Kattakkada panchayat. “Our aim is to turn this panchayat into a jackfruit town in the next three years,” says Kattakkada Subramaniam, president of the bank.

The project was inaugurated this World Environment Day (June 5) with the distribution of 500 saplings of the sweet thenvarikka variety. “We will give away 500 saplings each month. As far as possible, a new variety will be made available each time,” he says.

 Saplings of ‘sindoora varikka’ variety

Saplings of ‘sindoora varikka’ variety

Ever since the jackfruit was elevated to the status of the official fruit of Kerala on March 21, the plump fruit has been hogging the limelight, with several projects being implemented to plant more jackfruit trees and to produce value-added products from the fruit.

The Department of Cooperation, Government of Kerala, had launched ‘Haritham Sahakaranam’ project in 2017 under which five lakh trees were to be planted across the state by the cooperative societies.

Movement begins

This year, the Department directed the societies to plant five lakh fruit-bearing trees across the state during the next five years. Jackfruit trees are to be planted this year, followed by cashew, coconut, tamarind, and mango trees in the coming years.

As per the circular, the 1,000 cooperative societies in Thiruvananthapuram are supposed to plant and grow 10,000 jackfruit trees. “Although each society needs to plant only 10 trees, we took it a step further and decided on 5,000 trees. The first set of saplings were obtained from a farm at Kanjirappally at ₹120 per sapling and was given away to buyers at a discounted rate of ₹50. Last year, we had distributed 3,000 curry leaf saplings across the wards,” Subramaniam says.

The bank is collecting saplings of as many varieties as possible from across the state. “Next, we are distributing saplings of sindoora varikka. We will also give away saplings of mundan chakka , those without seeds and the latex-less variety,” he adds.

Jackfruit and its products are a major source of income for many families in the panchayat. “There are many households that earn a living by making raw jackfruit wafers. People come from far off places to buy the fruit to ripen it or to make value-added products,” Subramaniam says.

There has been tremendous support for the initiative from the people. For example, the National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of Government Higher Secondary School, Kulathummal, in the same panchayat came forward to plant a sapling each in 100 houses in Ponnara ward.

Students in action

“The students will make regular inspections to ensure that the saplings are properly taken care of. Our aim is to plant 500 saplings over a period of time,” says Albin N., NSS programme officer and a teacher of the school.

 National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of Government Higher Secondary School, Kulathummal, distributing jackfruit saplings in Ponnara ward

National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of Government Higher Secondary School, Kulathummal, distributing jackfruit saplings in Ponnara ward

“There is a huge support from the residents for this project. These varieties start fruiting within three to four years and that is a huge attraction. Last year, our students had planted curry leaf saplings in 500 houses over a period of one month and so people will support this endeavour as well,” he says.

 National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of Government Higher Secondary School, Kulathummal, distributing jackfruit saplings

National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of Government Higher Secondary School, Kulathummal, distributing jackfruit saplings

Subramaniam says some residents are so enthusiastic that they have expressed their desire to buy all the varieties that will be distributed under the project. “If things go as planned, our dream will become a reality!” he says.

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