When The 'Jackfruit King' Met PM Modi

'He wanted to know what products I'd brought along, so I showed him jackfruit flour, which research has linked to managing type 2 diabetes.'
'Then jackfruit seed flour, a strong source of protein that rural households have eaten for generations without it ever becoming a commercial product. I gave him ripe jackfruit chips too.'

A grainy mobile-phone clip shot at Revati Sule's -- Baramati MP Supriya Sule's daughter -- wedding reception in Delhi this week has done more for jackfruit than three decades of agricultural extension work.

In the video, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen leaning forward, visibly absorbed, as a young man beside Sharad Pawar shows him something on his phone and hands over a set of documents.

The young man is Mithilesh Desai, a farmer from Jhapade village in Lanja taluka, Ratnagiri district, whom Konkan now calls its 'Jackfruit King'.

For Desai it was the culmination of a much longer and lonelier journey -- one that began with his father selling jackfruit by the roadside for a few paise a kilo, at a time when the fruit was seen as Konkan's poor cousin to the mango.

India remains the world's largest producer of jackfruit, harvesting well over a million tonnes a year, yet a large share of it has traditionally gone to waste for want of processing and a market.

Desai, a trained agricultural engineer who walked away from a promising shot at the civil services, has spent over a decade trying to change that arithmetic -- one flour packet, one seed, one leather bag at a time. Here, he tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff what he told the prime minister, and what he hopes comes of it.

'I got close to 12 or 13 minutes with him'

You met the prime minister at Revati Sule's wedding reception, and the clip of you showing him some documents and your phone has gone viral. What exactly were you showing him?

 

It was one of the biggest opportunities of my life. Sharad Pawar Saheb gave me this opening -- it was a family programme for him, for the whole Pawar family, and he still invited me because he has followed my journey for the past six or seven years, watching the work we've done with jackfruit, a crop that had been completely ignored. We've been at this for 13, 14 years now.

Whenever people talk about Ratnagiri or the Konkan, it's all mangoes. Jackfruit is very much the poor cousin.

Exactly, and that's precisely why this was such a good opportunity. Pawar Saheb told me about it only the week before, and I count it as one of the biggest chances of my life, because my father has worked on this crop for 30, 40 years.

Walk us through the meeting itself.

The prime minister asked me to come forward, and Pawar Saheb spent two or three minutes telling him about our work. Then he called me over, and I got close to 12 or 13 minutes with him -- which is a lot, honestly.

He asked where I was from, what I actually do, how many varieties I work with. I explained everything. Then he asked what more could be done for jackfruit as a crop. I told him India is sitting on a two billion dollar opportunity here, and that 85 to 90 per cent of the country's jackfruit isn't even farmed -- it simply grows wild. Anywhere that doesn't see snowfall, you'll find jackfruit.

That must have caught his interest...

It did. He wanted to know what products I'd brought along, so I showed him jackfruit flour, which research has linked to managing type 2 diabetes. Then jackfruit seed flour, a strong source of protein that rural households have eaten for generations without it ever becoming a commercial product. I gave him ripe jackfruit chips too.

Did he taste anything?

No -- security protocol, I imagine -- but he took everything with him. I also gave him a passport wallet and a duffel bag made from vegan leather, tanned from jackfruit skin. That's what really caught his eye.

A friend of mine, Gaurav Somwanshi, who runs a blockchain and AI-traceability firm called Emertech Innovations, had fitted an NFC chip into the bag. I tapped my phone against it, and it pulled up the entire trace of that jackfruit -- right down to the prime minister's name on it, as a gift from the farmers of Maharashtra. It showed the whole story: The fertilisers used, what the farmer earned, everything.

What did he promise you?

I asked him for two things -- that one year be officially declared India's Jackfruit Year, since it's grown almost pan-India, and that a large processing facility be set up for the Western zone, which is where the real gap is. He responded positively to both and said the government would look into it.

But beyond the asks, he genuinely appreciated the products and the work -- a crop that's been wasted for so long, being taken this seriously.

Had you met him before?

Only once, on stage at an NXT conclave about a year-and-a-half ago, with him sitting in the audience. That wasn't a real conversation. This was the first time in my life I'd spoken with him one to one.

'We're currently talking to investors for our first funding round'

People now call you India's Jackfruit King. How did this all begin?

I'm a B Tech in agricultural engineering from the Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth in Rahuri -- one of the better-known government agriculture colleges. I also attempted the UPSC, cleared prelims and mains, but eventually walked away from that entire path and chose to farm alongside my father, continuing what he'd already started.

Thirty years ago, my father was selling jackfruit for 25 or 50 paise apiece. He had a vision for it that I decided to carry forward. By 2020, we'd formed India's largest farmer-producer company built specifically around jackfruit.

We set up a small processing unit, which is now expanding, and we've since incorporated a private limited company. We're currently talking to investors for our first funding round.

How has that response been?

Everyone likes the product. We've had plenty of meetings, but nothing's closed yet -- we're holding out for the right partners, because this fits squarely into where India is heading: Protein, fibre, plant-based meat. Yesterday's meeting was a genuinely good opening for that conversation.

What kind of investment are you looking for?

The first round is in the Rs 15 crore to Rs 20 crore range, the second upwards of Rs 50 crore, and over five to ten years, we're projecting revenue in the region of Rs 1,000 crore.

That's an enormous jump. What's the revenue model?

Mostly B2B and D2C, with an EBITDA of around 23 to 25 per cent across our products. Right now, we're a bootstrapped farmer-producer company with a food-processing facility worth five to six crore, turning over roughly Rs 2.5 crore a year. But we work with 1,100 farmers and a strong raw-material base, and we're now setting up a mega processing facility.

So the plan is to scale roughly 500 fold -- from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 1,000 crore?

That's the target, and it's achievable, because the jackfruit that goes to waste in India every year represents a Rs 40,000 crore opportunity. We're aiming for barely 2 to 3 per cent of that.

'6-7 years ago, farmers were getting barely Rs 10 for 10 kg of fruit'

Tell me about the years before this became a success story -- the actual struggle behind the 'Jackfruit King' tag.

The first five or six years were the hardest. It was an entirely new, untapped crop with no processing ecosystem around it -- no scientific or commercial way of harvesting even existed.

We had to build awareness among farmers from scratch, collect 88 varieties from across the world, and do all of it while my own family kept urging me to apply for a government job instead. They came around eventually, and that support is what got us here -- all the way to the prime minister of India.

How big was the business when you took it over from your father, and how big is it now?

We started with one or two lakh rupees, entirely bootstrapped, and built it up over five years to where we are today. My own orchard runs to 28 acres, and under our farmer-producer organisation, we have 1,600 acres under cultivation.

How does the FPO model work for these farmers?

It's as much a social venture as a business one. Six or seven years ago, farmers were getting barely Rs 10 for 10 kilograms of fruit, while traders resold it in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore or Delhi for Rs 150 to Rs 300 -- 15 to 30 times the price.

We started paying farmers that same rate directly, in their own villages, and that's what got them interested. A crop that earned a family next to nothing began generating real money from a single tree. We also do B2B buybacks from the farmers who plant for us, so it's a sound revenue model -- and jackfruit is a hardy crop besides.

Whose lives has this actually changed?

Our FPO operates across Maharashtra, but I personally work with seven state governments -- Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and others in the north east. The ambition is to work pan-India, wherever jackfruit grows.

Farmers who once got Rs 10 to Rs 15 for 10 kilograms are now getting closer to Rs 300 at their doorstep -- roughly a tenfold rise in income, just from better pricing, without even counting what processing adds.

It's also created an entirely new economic ecosystem around the crop -- environmental, nutraceutical, even a carbon-credit angle, since jackfruit scores among the highest of any horticultural crop on that count.

Tell us about your father -- what did he go through to keep this going?

He's really the key figure in all of this. People used to think he'd lost the plot, cultivating jackfruit when nobody saw any value in it. Thirty years ago, he was selling 10 or 15 kilos of fruit for 25 or 50 paise, standing by the roadside. That's where this journey started, and it's reached a point he never quite imagined.

How many jackfruit trees do you have across your own orchard and the wider FPO?

On my 28 acres, about 1,500 trees across 88 varieties. Across the FPO's 1,600 acres, we produce roughly 5,000 tonnes a year. It's a seasonal fruit, but the varieties we work with stretch the harvest across seven to eight months.

You often call jackfruit a Kalpavriksha, like the coconut tree. Did you discuss that with the prime minister?

I did, and I explained why. The leaves are used, the latex is used, the skin goes into vegan leather, the seeds into flour, the raw fruit into plant-based meat, the ripe fruit onto the table.

Practically every part of the tree has a use -- that's precisely what makes it a Kalpavriksha, a tree that gives everything.

'Prime Minister Modi responded warmly to everything I showed him'

Any message for India's farmers -- and what drew you to jackfruit over mango, given where you are from?

 

That was really my father's idea before it was mine. He grew up loving the fruit -- during the food scarcity of 1972, jackfruit is what helped poor families survive. That's part of why it sits so high on the Global Hunger Index's list of crops -- it behaves more like a staple food than a fruit.

The prime minister clearly took to that presentation; he kept every document and every product I gave him.

Do you think he'll become jackfruit's biggest ambassador?

Absolutely. He's proven himself the best possible ambassador for any crop -- look at what he's done for makhana, for millets. That's exactly why I asked for a Jackfruit Year so he can take it to the world and turn it into a genuine new revenue stream for India.

How long have you known Sharad Pawar, and how did this introduction come about?

Six or seven years now. Pawar Saheb is easily the most visionary and knowledgeable person in Indian agriculture, and he took to this idea early -- a young farmer from the Konkan doing something this unconventional. I keep him updated on every development, and when he mentioned he'd try to arrange this meeting, it actually came through.

And your overall impression of the prime minister?

Very positive. He carries a certain presence, aura and he responded warmly to everything I showed him. I'm genuinely grateful for the chance to present our work to the prime minister of India.