Emem Umoh

My team and I recently inaugurated the Jackfruit value chain addition projects as part of activities under one of WINCO community-based project titled "Conservation for A Resilient Food Future Project (CReFUP), with a goal to create livelihood options for impoverished community members in Ukana Ikot Akpabin, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The host community engage in massive deforestation of indigenous tree species for their major occupation of over a century; wood-based carving of Mortar, pestle, wooden gong, chopping boards, drums among others. Ironically, they are growers of the versatile Jackfruit which is undervalued, underutilized and underused. Our 2 years research on Jackfruit led to the local production of 13 value added products including chips (unripe, ripe and semiripe), smoothies, Juice, Cereals, Granules (for swallow), milk, thickener for local soup  delicacies, Jam, Chocolate, flour and porridge. In collaboration with Georgie Farm, we have trained over 48 community women on local processing and it has created alternative livelihood, income generation, added to food availabilty . To enhance sustainability, over 5,000 Jackfruit seedlings have been raised in the community for aggressive Jackfruit plantation establishment.More than 3,000 have been planted and distributed to community members for planting. This is a pilot in Nigeria and Africa.