An Incident Recalled – Good Sense

Dr Upatissa Pethiyagoda

It was sometime in the early seventies. I was at the Perera & Sons outlet at Kollupitiya junction, sipping an iced coffee, when that great and inimitable Galle’s W.Dahanayake sauntered in with the same goal in mind. We were alone and WD moved over and introduced himself (quite unnecessarily as everybody knew him).

Formalities over, the conversation moved on to agriculture. Hearing that I was from the TRI, he (perhaps mischievously,) pronounced “Sri Lanka should direct attention to just five crops –paddy, sugarcane, pasture grass coconut and jak (kos). He probably expected me to rise in defense of tea. To his surprise (?), I did not. I was by then a willing traitor to tea.

His choices were very apt. As recent events (Covid pandemic) showed, the standard formula of “develop agro-exports and buy you food needs”. This was “gherkins before grain”. No one could have envisaged that the import/export system would be so deeply disrupted. “Food self-sufficiency” was no longer an archaic, outdated, primitive and irrelevant relic.

The unsophisticated wisdom of WD still haunts. Being self-reliant in basic foodstuffs is very respectable and a base for true national pride. A Canadian slogan in support of their (salmon) fishery was “We eat what we can and can what we can’t” or the Thai advertisement line, accompanying a tantalizing picture of a fruit basket was “We have got it, come and get it”. Capturing tourism and horticulture simultaneously!

The need for self-sufficiency in rice, sugar, coconut and milk are self-evident. Jak counts as a neglected but powerful option. Had we but heeded Arthur.V.Dias, and listened rather than lampooned him as some kind of a crank, we would have done well.

The versatility of jak places it as second only to the multi-purpose miracle – coconut. To begin with, jak is such a part of our tradition, that the fruit has found its utility as polos ambul, polos mallung, thambapu (boiled) at a less than fully matured stage, and then as, kiri kos, kos niyambala and sun- dried for storage. It is recorded that a mature fruit can weigh up to 60 kg.!

As everyone would know, the fruit ripens into waraka or wela . This, one may surmise, has to do with difference in cellulolytic enzymes (?) in the ripening fruit. No one knows! A casual observation was that the wela (soft) form is preferred in low country, while the firmer waraka is favoured in the highlands. Nothing seems to be known about inheritance of this trait. Does waraka seed always grow into waraka and wela to wela? The market for waraka as a dessert fruit is well established in South-East Asia (Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)

The seeds of jak are a neglected resource. It would be parallel to chestnut of temperate climes. The utility value is obvious. Ripe seeds, stored in a bed of sand (weli kos atta) were common in rural homes. Several decades ago, a “daha ata masey kos” was popularized. It was possibly an import from Malaysia and was reported to come into production in less than two years (hence the name) and was of the waraka type. Has this now disappeared beyond recall?

Jak is also a highly regarded class-one timber and the fresh leaf a traditional fodder for goats. Boiled jak leaves are said to be anti-diabetic. The Forest Department has very successfully planted a mix of Jak and Mahogany. The yellow decoction of Jak roots (Pandu) is the recognized dye for Buddhist monks’ robes.

Would it be feasible to graft jak? Does the latex deter “Take” of the scion? Of some fascination is the following story. During World War II, there was widespread pilferage of Army petrol. It was decided to colour issued petrol with a dye. This did not deter petrol thieves. The British were intrigued at this native chemistry. Finally intensive searches discovered a lump of something as a suspect. This remained a mystery. Yes, you guessed right – it was the humble “Koholle” (latex).

If anyone could fill me out, regarding heritability of the fruit trait, information on grafting and the fate of daha-ata. mase kos, I would be delighted to be reached on “pethiyagodau@gmail.com”