
Scientists from Indian Institute of Science have a solution for all farmers who have been affected by demonetisation and are worried about their crops getting spoiled.
Scientists from Indian Institute of Science have a solution for all farmers who have been affected by demonetisation and are worried about their crops getting spoiled. They have developed a technology that can save and preserve vegetables and fruits for long periods of time.
Farmers in India are currently struggling to harvest their crops due to lack of funds to pay labourers. Hence there is a risk of a large number of veggies and fruits going to waste. But thanks to the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST) which is a part of IISc, a technology has now been introduced.
The technology uses a device to first dehydrates the produce completely, which is then powdered and bagged in cellophane bags.
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CST’s chief technical officer HI Somashekar told Bangalore Mirror that the nutritional value of these vegetables don’t go down due to this process and they are preserved up to nine months. The centre is currently working with an NGO called TIDE (Technology Informatics Design Endeavour) to ensure that this technology is transferred to farmers directly. This process has also created new entrepreneurial opportunities for farmers who want to develop the technology themselves.
The NGO has also set up an all-women self-help group in Tumakuru District in Karnataka in order to felicitate the process faster amongst the farmers who use this. Currently, the dryers are being manufactured in two places in Karnataka but the stakeholders looking to push this technology further in order to help ensure that farmers are well prepared in advance before any kind of calamity has a chance to hit them.