22 July 2025, by Sara Jansen
An interview with Ineke Aquarius.
Jackfruit grows in abundance in rural Uganda, but remained largely unused. Until Ineke Aquarius and Inez van Oord saw something new in it: an ingredient that makes meat more sustainable and provides farmers with extra income. Together, they founded Fiber Foods Group and developed PrimeJack®: a dried jackfruit fibre that is now used in products such as the vegetarian McKroket.
In this interview, Ineke explains how this product came about, why they started in Uganda, and what is involved in building a fair food chain.
Through Project Jackfruit, Corekees investors can now contribute to the next step: scaling up.
Could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
"I am Ineke Aquarius, 50 years old, and I live in Amsterdam with my husband and two sons. I have been a social entrepreneur my entire working life. Five years ago, I started Fiber Foods together with Inez van Oord. At the time, we were both living with our families in Uganda and wanted to set up a sustainable and fair business that would benefit many small farmers, especially women. This became a value chain around dried jackfruit, which we call PrimeJack®. I now live in the Netherlands again and we are working hard to build a market for this sustainable ingredient."
When and how did you come up with the idea of making meat substitutes from jackfruit?
"Two things came together with jackfruit. We noticed that it was difficult to set up a business that benefited women within existing value chains such as coffee or vanilla, because the land often belongs to men and they also receive the profits. Jackfruit trees, on the other hand, are everywhere, as shade trees, and the fruits are often left lying on the ground.
At the same time, we saw that jackfruit was becoming increasingly popular on the other side of the world, in curries, bitterballen and sandwiches. We started with the idea of canning jackfruit, as is done in Asia, but that didn't work well. Eventually, we developed something new: dried jackfruit. It loses 90% of its volume and weight, has a longer shelf life and is easier to process. We decided to go ahead with that.
"It's special to see a piece of Uganda in a McKroket."
What prompted you to do this in Uganda?
"I have lived and worked in Uganda on and off for the past 25 years. Due to a decree by a former king, many families planted jackfruit trees as a form of food security. So there is an abundance of jackfruit. At the same time, there are about 3.5 million small farmers who often barely make ends meet from their land.
Many of them already work in a regenerative way, without artificial fertilisers or pesticides, using a mix of crops. If you can introduce an additional revenue model, for example through the jackfruit that is already there, then you have a powerful combination."
How do you combine your work in the Netherlands and Uganda?
Our team in Uganda is incredibly strong. With one or two working visits a year, we can coordinate everything well. Although I would secretly like to go more often. I really enjoy being there.
How big is the Fiber Foods team in Uganda, and what exactly do they do?
"We work with seven people there: four women and three men. They are responsible for:
- coordinating the fortnightly harvests
- tracking the entire chain via our traceability system
- R&D to develop new fibres and further improve the product
- impact programmes with partners to strengthen the social and ecological impact
- developing new products based on our fibres (but we're keeping those under wraps for now)
Which milestone of the past few years are you personally most proud of?
"Definitely the McKroket. It's special to see a piece of Uganda, grown by small farmers, in a product from a multinational like McDonald's."
What makes Project Jackfruit so special to you?
"The potential to scale up. Everything is in place: the chain, the product, the impact. Thanks to Project Jackfruit, we can now take the next step and literally allow thousands of people to benefit from extra income, while on the other side of the chain, millions of people are eating a healthier, more sustainable product."
"The potential for scaling up is enormous. Thousands of people can earn a living from this, and millions will soon be eating more sustainably."
What are you most looking forward to in the coming year?
"That the meat industry will use PrimeJack® to make hybrid meat available on a larger scale. This will allow consumers to eat healthier, more sustainable and cheaper meat. As far as we are concerned, this is a realistic step towards a more plant-based diet."
Project Jackfruit is an investment in the production of jackfruit fibre in Uganda: a plant-based ingredient that replaces up to 40% of meat. Farmers earn money from the jackfruit that already grows there, while companies can make their products more sustainable.
