VIJAYAWADA: The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) Hyderabad head and chief scientist Dr G Venkateswaran on Thursday said that the institute has developed a technology which ensures 95 per cent recovery in post-harvest operations of turmeric.
Speaking at a conference on ‘Sustainable Technologies, Opportunities and Entrepreneurship Development for Food Processing and Allied Industries’, organised by the CII and AP Technology Development Centre (APTDC) at FoodBiz India 2015, he said that CFTRI always helped in taking the right technology to the farmers so that their avocation turns beneficial to them.
“In the past, growing of turmeric was very unremunerative as post-harvest losses used to be huge due to improper packaging. The CFTRI has brought technology with which the turmeric powder can be packaged well and sent to other states,” Dr Venkateswaran said.
He recalled CFTRI developing a technology with which sugar cane juice could be sold in pet bottles or in tetra-packs. Sugar cane farmers used to complain of lack of remunerative prices from sugar mills and this technology suddenly fetched them a good price, he said.
He said sometimes great business could be developed from practically nothing. For instance, Spirulina, which is a micro-algae, grows on its own. The blue-green algae is very high in protein and is also a rich source of essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. The only requirement is that there should be a pond full of water and enough sunlight. “This is commercially viable,” Dr Venkteswaran said.
Gopinath Koneti, South India head of Food and Agribusiness Strategic Advisory and Research Division of YES Bank, says that there are opportunities galore for entrepreneurs if only they knew where to look at. Unobtrusively, India is passing through a fruit and vegetable revolution and the entrepreneurs should grab this opportunity.
He said the individual preference was shifting to health foods and fruits and vegetables fit the place. As they are highly perishable, they should be grown in the towns they are consumed. They cannot be transported more than 100 km without them losing heir freshness and nutritional benefits, he pointed out.
Those who spoke included mayor K Sridhar, National Research Centre on Meat director Dr VV Kulkarni and CII Vijayawada vice-chairman G Venkateswara Rao.