IIT students to develop village level storage facilities
13 March 2015 12:20 AM GMT
The government is working on a sustainability model to help farmers store the produce. Students from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have been roped in for a research and development project sanctioned by the ministry of food processing industries to help create village level storage facilities, so that there is maximum output in terms of storing the goods, right from the time they are reaped.
Explaining the concept, Union Minister for Food Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, in an exclusive chat with Millennium Post said: “Students from IIT Kharagpur have been allocated a research and development project by the ministry, to come up with a village level facility, wherein the farmer can store food grains immediately after they are reaped. The farmer can store the fruits or vegetables there unless there is a period of glut and all the produce goes waste.”
Badal said that the project is essentially working on solar energy and is currently in the testing phase. “We have offered them (IIT students) every possible aid from the ministry, but they are using natural resources – for example, there is extensive use of solar energy for this project. The project essentially functions with the help of solar energy and most of it is already in place. They are already trying the method out on certain farms to see how the project functions. But, we need to monitor nearly two crop cycles to see how the concept works out. After we have reviewed it and seen its progress, we will be able to take a final call,” she added.
Offering details on the viability of the project, the minister said, “We will implement it on the national level, only after we are certain of its feasibility. Crucial factors to gauge its viability include, how much does the farmer make out of it; what is the total cost of setting up these projects; up to how many months can the goods be stored and many of such other factors will have to be taken into consideration, before it is implemented on a nationwide scale.”
Explaining the concept, Union Minister for Food Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, in an exclusive chat with Millennium Post said: “Students from IIT Kharagpur have been allocated a research and development project by the ministry, to come up with a village level facility, wherein the farmer can store food grains immediately after they are reaped. The farmer can store the fruits or vegetables there unless there is a period of glut and all the produce goes waste.”
Badal said that the project is essentially working on solar energy and is currently in the testing phase. “We have offered them (IIT students) every possible aid from the ministry, but they are using natural resources – for example, there is extensive use of solar energy for this project. The project essentially functions with the help of solar energy and most of it is already in place. They are already trying the method out on certain farms to see how the project functions. But, we need to monitor nearly two crop cycles to see how the concept works out. After we have reviewed it and seen its progress, we will be able to take a final call,” she added.
Offering details on the viability of the project, the minister said, “We will implement it on the national level, only after we are certain of its feasibility. Crucial factors to gauge its viability include, how much does the farmer make out of it; what is the total cost of setting up these projects; up to how many months can the goods be stored and many of such other factors will have to be taken into consideration, before it is implemented on a nationwide scale.”
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