FAO vows ongoing support for Jackfruit promotion
City Desk :
FAO Representative in Bangladesh Jiaoqun Shi on Thursday said FAO Bangladesh has taken many steps to promote jackfruit since the launch of One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative last year, including the formation of OCOP national taskforce.
“We will continue our efforts in promoting jackfruit, the special product of Bangladesh. We also focus on improving jackfruit farmers’ livelihoods and their economic growth while minimizing the use of resources, reducing jackfruit loss and waste and lessening the negative impacts on the environment,” Shi said, reports UNB.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a webinar and a fair to showcase and promote processing and marketing of jackfruit in Bangladesh.
Executive Secretary of the One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Secretariat Jingyuan Xia and Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture, Chairperson of OCOP national taskforce Wahida Akter participated in the webinar.
The webinar was followed by a fair, open to the public, between 4-6 July at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) premises to promote entrepreneurship in the jackfruit market for both fresh and processed products.
Jackfruit is the Special Agricultural Products (SAPs) selected for FAO’s One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative. The comprehensive webinar included various topics including implementation of the OCOP in Asia and the Pacific region, OCOP implementation in Bangladesh, overview of jackfruit research and value chain, development of micro and small-scale entrepreneurship in jackfruit value chains, private sector engagement in jackfruit value chain development in Bangladesh.
Wahida Akter said Jackfruit is our national fruit and this is one of the most important and widely grown fruits in the country. “The fruit significantly contributes to the nutrition of the people of Bangladesh as a source of vitamins, minerals and calories. Jackfruit has enormous potential for processing and value addition with the increasing demand both in the domestic and international markets”.
