EXPORT JACKFRUITS TO CHINA

We in Malaysia are working very hard in order to export jackfruits to China. There are at least THREE parties involved namely, farmers, Department of Agriculture (DOA) and MARDI. Each party has their own responsibilities ; for instance farmers have to grow quality jackfruits in terms of quality and quantity. DOA have to check farmers follow accordingly to the standards and MARDI do research to help both parties. Good cooperation and collaboration with each respective party will determine the success of the exportation. This will enhance the export market which will benefit  both the  farmers and country.

There are a huge market in China, where we must meet their requirements and standards, particularly pest and  disease management, post harvest handling,  quality, etc.

Malaysian jackfruits is the BEST in the world due to its quality, sweetness, crispiness, less flatulence and nutritious.

Standard Operating Precedures (SOP) for Jackfruits to be Exported to China

Jackfruit (JF) Festival In Florida

It is interesting to note that there is a JF festival in Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens in Florida. It seems that this is ONLY  JF festival in the US.
The webpage describes as below ;

When: Saturday, September 13, 2014 from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM

When: Saturday, September 13, 2014 9:30 AM to Saturday, September 13, 2014 4:30 PM

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden will celebrate one of the most intriguing of tropical fruits, the jackfruit. Participants will learn about its enticing taste and curious fragrance, how to grow it, and what varieties most suit differing tastes.

We will have recognized speakers presenting information on planting and pruning, pollination and the variety of cultivars available in South Florida. Tree sales and cultivar tasting follows the presentations.

Lectures

10:00 a.m.             Pioneering the Introduction of Jackfruit in Florida
                                Dr. Richard J. Campbell, FTBG

10:45 a.m.             A new Generation of Jackfruit
                                (Jackfruit Breeding at FTBG)
                                Noris Ledesma, FTBG

11:30 a.m.             The Jackfruit as a Tradition in Asia
                                TBD

12:15 p.m.             Jackfruit Cooking Demonstration
                                Chef Allen Susser     

1:00 p.m.               Drying jackfruit
                                Leila Werner, FTBG

1:45 p.m.             Grafting jackfruit
                              Todd Walton, FTBG

2:30 p.m.             Caring for your jackfruit tree
                              Jeff Wasielewski, Miami Dade Cooperative Extension Service

Tropical Fruit Program volunteers clean and evaluate jackfruit during the jackfruit season. Flesh from each cultivar is carefully labeled and frozen for sampling. Following the ‘Just Jackfruit' lectures participants will taste fruit from a wide range of flavors. 

For more info please browse at http://www.fairchildgarden.org/Events/?date=09-2014&eventID=965

Post Harvest Losses in Jackfruits

In tropical countries post harvest losses (PHL) of agricultural products is high; it could be 30 to 40 percents. To date in jackfruits had PHL amount to about 30% which occurred at value- chain levels. This is mainly due climatic, agromanagement practices and post handling per se.

1.Production

a)      Agronomy

                                   i.            Climate monitoring

                                 ii.            Irrigation

b)      Pest and Disease

                              i.            Fruit rot

               ii      Physiological disorders

2.Maturity

a)      Specific maturity index

b)      Maturity based on degree days, rainfall – affected by weather

c)      Physical  Determination of maturity 

3.          In field handling

a) Harvesting technique

b) Bagging 

4.     In field transportation

5.       Packinghouse operation

      Sorting, cleaning, grading, packaging

      Storage and Ripening

6.   Distribution and marketing

Domestic 

        Export

7.       Value added

   Minimally processed,Processed product

8.Waste management

9.Awareness.

Jackfruit chips give value added products.

 .

Eat Local Fruits

Jackfruit or nangka is one of the favourite dessert in the Malaysian fresh fruit consumption

Is it true that Malaysians have preference for imported fruits than local ones? Just ask yourself, when you are at the supermarket do you head to the racks displaying exotic fruits and vegetables? Or does your shopping list give priority to apples, oranges and strawberries instead of guava, ciku and jack fruit. 
Why sideline the array of local fruits when they are equally delicious and highly nutritious compared with imported fruits? But such discrimination on local agricultural produce is prevalent and is nothing new. 
EAT LOCAL FRUIT CAMPAIGN
 One may not be aware that the eat local fruit campaign has been conducted since 1972. The campaign has not only helped to promote local fruits as highly nutritious supplements but also helped farmers to market their fruits with the help of the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA). According to FAMA's Director General, Datuk Mohamed Shariff Abdul Aziz, previously the local fruits like durian and jack fruit were banned from hotels, but today they are in the menu of the hotels. "The campaign also helped the local fruits to penetrate hypermarkets. This goes to show the cooperation from various parties in helping the government to promote local fruits," he said. However, there is a bigger underlying problem. Despite the campaign, over the years the consumption of fruits by locals have declined. 
ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO EAT FRUITS

As for some parents, it is quite difficult to convince their children to make a habit of eating fruits and often they have to be forced to do it.

According to book writer and the winner of 'Fruitastic' and 'Vegemania'Gourmand Award, Mohana Gill, it is important that the fruit eating habit is inculcated from the very early stage. "But children being children it is important that we confide them that fruits and vegetables are good and healthy, and let them see the fruit and vegetables as something fun and tasty," she explained. 
She also pointed out that parents, often without realising reward their children with unhealthy things like sweets and carbonated drinks and `penalize' them with `good' food like fruits and vegetables. Thus its pertinent that the adults take the first step by changing the mindset apart from finding exciting and compelling ways to introduce fruits and vegetable in their children's daily diet. CHANGE YOUR WAY OF LIFE
Studies conducted by FAMA found that the fruit intake among malaysians only accounts for 60 kg per capita compared with 130 kg for the peoplwe in developed nations.
       
FAMA is working closely with Malaysia Health Promotion Board in encouraging the public to consume more local fruits as part of a healthy lifestyle. He also dismissed the view that local fruits like guava, ciku, pineapples, mangoes, papayas and seasonal fruits like durian, langsat, duku, pulasan, rambutan, jack fruit and others as contributors to health problems. "The local fruits are rich in nutrient and fibre. I'm of the opinion that the misconception that the durian is an `unhealthy' fruit must be corrected. Many are not aware that the king of fruits is rich in potassium," he said adding that there is no problem as long as the fruits are consumed moderately.  

AS A WAY OF LIFE 
Meanwhile, the chairperson of Malaysian Health Promotion Board Toh Puan Datuk Seri Hajah Dr Aishah Ong concurred with Mohamed Shariff on the misconception. According to her, health problems are not necessarily contributed by the intake of local fruits. One's health can be in jeopardy even if one consumes imported fruits excessively. What is more important is moderate consumption. "What is important is that, when we eat, it should be in moderate amount. Even, Allah have created fruits like this to be seasonal. If they say durian is unhealthy, they should also be aware that durian contains high fiber, vitamin C and vitamin A. If they say durian creates heat in the body, Allah created mangosteen that has cooling effects, that is why mangosteen and durians come in the same season," she added. According to Dr Aishah, fruits like star fruit, papaya, ciku, and banana are highly nutritious compared with imported fruits like apple, pear and lai. As for example, the rastali banana has two times more vitamin C content compared with the green apple. The eksotika papaya has 10 times more vitamin A compared with mandarin oranges. Other than vitamin and mineral, fruits also provide fiber. "We want the community to accept the intake of local fruits as part of their lifestyle. It is fashionable to eat local fruits," she stressed. She also urged the mass media to play a bigger role in promoting local fruits. They can highlight local fruits by using file pictures of local fruits instead of imported fruits like the kiwi fruit and apple.The effort will denote the support for the campaign and illustrate that eating local fruits is good for the health. 

ENCOURAGE YOUNGER GENERATION TO EAT LOCAL FRUITS

FAMA also concentrates on the younger generation and is now taking the 'Eat More Local Fruits' to the schools. The first location for the campaign is the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seksyen 11, Shah Alam, Selangor. The move is in line with FAMA's effort to encourage the younger generation to acquire the taste for local fruits including the seasonal fruits. "All this while the parents favoured imported fruits maybe due to prestige or they have a taste for them but the local fruits are no less in their nutritional value, and they are fresh and lack preservatives like found in many of the imported fruits," added Mohamed Shariff.

Jackfruit Processing

A visit was made to one of the farm in Johore, 4 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. Johore is situated south of the country and it has a lot fruit growing areas such as pineapple, guava, durians, jackfruits whats not.
I have a chance to see how JF is processed to make chips via vacuum drying. The process is straight forward.

1.Fruit Opening (20 kg of fruit can produce 6 kg of pulp)
2.Pulp Extraction
3.Washing and Rinsing
4.Frying  (Frying for two hours)
5.Vacuum Drying
6. Weighing Into Proper Packages
7.Packaging and Labelling
8.Handling

All pulps or bulbs were taken out from the whole fruit

The seeds were removed from the pulp

The pulps were sorted out

Pullp were ready to be washed, rinsed and fried.

JF chips are very crispy and sweet. It has natural flavour and no artificial colouring. The chips are very high demand in countries like Singapore and Brunei. The chips could be shipped to any destination in the world due to its light weight and could be stored for a long period of time. THis processing plant pack 60g and 800g package and the price will be RM6 (USD2) and RM60(USD20), respectively.

For more info don't hesitate to contact me at zainudinhaji@gmail.com.

Another Malaysian Jackfruit Variety

One of the variety is Subang. It very large and heavy. Here how it looks.

The fruit is almost as big as two-year child. Wonderful!

Malaysian Jackfruits Variety

There are many jackfruit varieties in Malaysia. The Department of Agriculture has registered many clones. There are old clones like NS1 , NS 2 etc but these clones are proned to bacterial diseases like Phytopthora and Corticium which lasts about 10-15 years after planting, and where most of the clones are grafted. Through selection  many more varieties have been selected and registered like J29, J33, J 34.etc There are plantations which had keen to grow these jackfruits. Based on yield and quality, there are many outcomers. One of the popular one is J33. This variety is very sweet, less flatulence, less sticky, very crunchy. and long shelf life.

Malaysia's jackfruit  Madu variety