Production and utilization of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) in Uganda

Abstract

Jackfruit originated from East Asia, known to be the largest tree born fruit weighs up to 30kg and yields 50-80 tons per hectare annually. The fruit has large potential in Uganda and has been used in value added products on a small and rudimentary scale. This work assessed the production and utilization patterns of jackfruit with a view of determining its capacity to sustain industrial scale processing. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in jackfruit producing regions from April to June 2016. The study variables were household farm size, number of jackfruit trees, types, utilization methods and constraints associated with jackfruit production. A purposive sampling design was used to select districts, sub-counties, parishes and villages to participate in the survey. A total of 400 household heads from the study area were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. Responses and observations were recorded; secondary data was also reviewed for information on the total number of households in a district. The results showed that 32% of the respondents worked on 1-2 acres of farmland on which they have at least 2-7 jackfruit trees. About 57% of jackfruit trees were planted while the remaining 43% were inherited. The study area was estimated to have about 1.7 million fruiting jackfruit trees with the number of fruits per tree varying between 20-120 fruits and weighing11 kg, on average. Jackfruit harvest season in Uganda has two peaks in March to April and November to December, with the latter season yielding more fruit. Jackfruit is categorized into white, orange and yellow types based on the pulp color, hard or soft according to pulp texture. About 78% of households produced jack fruit mainly for home consumption, 16% of the households sold the fruit, and 6% fed it to animals while 1% of the household processed them into dried chips or jackfruit wine. The estimated jackfruit production per district in the study area was 0.3 million metric tons/annum. Although the study area has a potential of producing jackfruit for industrial processing, there is need to grow more jackfruit in an organized manner to meet the increasing and competing demands for both home consumption and industrial processing.

Optimization of drying conditions for Jackfruit pulp using Refractance Window Drying technology

“…Jackfruit originated in India and is now widely cultivated in South and South‐East Asia, in the Caribbean and Latin America and some parts of Africa, including Kenya and Uganda (Ranasinghe et al., 2019 ). Jackfruit is the largest edible fruit with an annual average yield of 50–80 tons of fruits per hectare of land (Balamaze et al., 2019 ). Jackfruit comprises 25%–35% aril, 7%–12% seed, and 50%–58% nonedible portion (Cruz‐Casillas et al., 2021 ).…”

Physico-chemical Characteristics of Selected Jackfruit (Artocarpus Heterophyllus Lam) Varieties

“…Such variation may affect the quality of products processed from fruits from different jackfruit varieties. According to Balamaze, Muyonga & Byaruhanga (2019), there are mainly three jackfruit varieties based on flake color in Uganda. Mostly, jackfruit flakes are mainly consumed fresh with the inedible fruit portions wasted or fed to animals.…”

“…Mostly, jackfruit flakes are mainly consumed fresh with the inedible fruit portions wasted or fed to animals. Farmers with jackfruit trees reported losses of up to 20% during peak harvest season (Balamaze et al, 2019). It is therefore, necessary that alternative approaches for utilization of jackfruit be evaluated to ensure full realization of the economic potential of the different jackfruit varieties.…”

Nutritional prospects of jackfruit and its potential for improving dietary diversity in Uganda

“…The tree species was identified by National Forestry Resources Research Institute (NaFORRI) research team. Guided by farmers, a minimum of 9 mature fruits from each ethno-variety, that is, soft, firm yellow, firm red and firm white [ 11 , 12 ] as well as another colour variant i.e. orange were collected (Fig.…”

“…Other parts of jackfruit trees including fruits, leaves, and bark have also been extensively used in traditional medicine due to their anti-carcinogenic, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and hypoglycemic effects [ 8 – 10 ]. However, the concentration of the chemical compounds potentially varies among jackfruit varieties [ 8 ], which are commonly classified according to texture into hard and soft types [ 8 ] or colour [ 11 , 12 ].…”