Innovations in agro processing for poor farmer
and cultivator communities in hilly regions-project
by NIIST, Trivandrum and implemented by the agro processing
group with scientists like Dr.C.Arumughan,M.M.Sreekumar and
aDr.A.Sundaresan in the lead, and involving scientists and
technical staff in the group-details for this entry being prepared by
S.Sureshkumar,scientist and Advisor to Director,NIIST ,on behalf of the
agency, in consultation
The project ,which was initiated as a technology incubation effort with
governmental support, based on a novel process for value added products
from fresh spices, really received a boost when MATA an NGO under the
aegis of Rishang Keishing foundation approached the
laboratory,NIIST[formerly RRL],Trivandrum ,under the CSIR ,a public
funded research agency, for implementing a pilot project in the hilly regions
of Manipur ,in the North –East where ginger was being cultivated, by poor
farming communities. Their income was limited due to the difficulties on
account of wet weather conditions affecting drying operations coupled with
the handicaps in transport and haulage that the difficult mountainous terrain
provided. This often lead to the crop being spoiled, since further processing
for value additions elsewhere were based on drying as the first step. There
was no viable process for oils and oleoresins from fresh ginger, which would
ameliorate the difficulties of the farmer community in the region besides
ensuring adequate returns and increased income from further processing, for
value addition, as above.
M.M.Sreekumar, scientist of NIIST with the help of N.Sudhilal technical
assistant had developed at the laboratory scale a process for extracting oils
and oleoresins as value added products from fresh ginger, which also
ensured better yield and quality profiles, in the laboratory trials. This was
made part of a project proposal that S.Sureshkumar and M.M.Sreekumar,
scientist, NIIST, submitted to DSIR for governmental/departmental special
funding support under a technology business incubator facility program,
which was mooted, in alliance with Spices Board and the laboratory. Some
pilot processing facilities could be built up under the leadership of
Dr.C.Arumughan, Head of the group and Dr.A.Sundaresan scientist, in
addition to the above team. Dr.A.D.Damodaran, Director of the laboratory at
that time gave all the institutional support for the pilot project, with funds
from CSIR.
Around this time MATA an NGO under the aegis of Rishang Keishing
foundation approached the laboratory through DSIR, with funding support
under the PATSER Scheme for innovations and their industrial
implementation, as risk capital coverage. Scientists M.M.Sreekumar and
Dr.A.Sundaresan visited the location to assess the logistics and feasibility
for project implementation as a Demonstration and industrial scale
operation, for benefiting the poor farmer communities of the region. If found
successful this can diffuse in the North-East with special funding support
from government and technical support from the laboratory and execution
support from project engineering companies, involving interested agencies,
in the private, voluntary and governmental, as well as research sectors.
The project could be successfully implemented overcoming all the logistical
and technical as well as administrative difficulties in time ,and the viability
of the project established through product trial marketing, which showed the
superior aroma profile of the products from fresh ginger. The team could
also use the facility after trials at the laboratory scale and bench scale, to
prove the process and its applications for other fresh spices like turmeric and
pepper, thus increasing the profitability and viability of the project as well as
its attractiveness for the farming communities and the industrial
entrepreneurship options. Taking to such economic activities based on post
harvest technology increased the farmer community stakes in cultivation
attracting more people to turn to such profitable activities, including the
youth and adult population, alike.
This was a perfect example of national integration through technology, as
pointed out by the then DG of CSIR, who used to refer often to the phrase
`from guns to gunny bags` to emphasize the scope for solving the problems
of unrest and violence in the region through technology, and innovations
based on science, involving different sectors effectively, as above. The
diffusion of the technology was also facilitated by this success in the pilot
stage, so that in the subsequent phases it has spread to Meghalaya and
Sikkim, based on a strategy plan for technology diffusion, where the projects
are being implemented, involving stakeholders, as above, for the benefit of
farmer communities in hilly regions, based on innovations in agro
processing.
In later stages there are also plans to develop the scope of the project further
by down streaming of technology aimed at more value added products like
extracts and fractions for food, health and nutraceutical applications, from
spices, with possible extension to other natural products of the region, which
has a scope for cultivation and processing for value additions, locally,in
these and other similar high altitude locations. Some studies on sea
buckthorn grown in Tibetan mountains have been carried out earlier as part
of an overall strategy in this context. Presently the laboratory is undertaking
research studies as part of a suprainstitutional project in the group, with
CSIR support, and involving scientists and technical staff from relevant
disciplines and divisions, for nutraceutical from natural products. Some of
the findings of which will be developed further as bench scale and
demonstration scale processes to be engineered at demonstration and
industrial scales as above, eventually. As per the strategy, a basket of
processes will be aimed at technogical innovations for farmer communities
in rural/high altitude regions.
An observation from the principal innovator based on
a news story about the pilot project-the story tells a
tale about the externalities of the technology
diffusion process benefiting poor communities
Sometime in early 2000, Litan 40 km off Imphal, Manipur, India was just like any
other village in NE with ladies sitting on the road side trying to sell small
quantities of ginger they harvested the previous day. Most men, faced with
starvation and dragged to drugs and liquor, huddle in front of the small
shops and work hard to kill time. But setting of the ginger processing facility by
end of December 2000 made a drastic change in the small town.
For the erection of the plant and machinery, skilled labor from the main land was
brought in. They started staying in the processing plant and to cater to the need
of these people, small tea shops started functioning which later transformed into
lunch homes and later to full time hotels. Soon other shops started coming up in
the region, a video shop, a barber shop, several shops selling consumer
goods, woolen clothing etc. It became a major bus terminal and people started
carrying gunny bags of ginger to the processing facility . The plant started buying
from the local farmers 20 tons of ginger per day and soon message spread to
other villages and the farmers started feeding their produce to the factory. In a
couple of months most of the buses plying in the route were unloading bags of
ginger at Litan and the traffic increased. The change was visible in the way
people lived and the way the small bus stop was transformed into a major trading
centre.
M.M.Sree Kumar
Scientist "F"
National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology (NIIST)
(formerly Regional Research Laboratory )
Trivandrum - 695 019
INDIA
Phone ( O): 91- 471 - 2515 273
Fax: 91- 471-2495050
SURESHKUMAR.S
SCIENTIST AND ADVISER TO DIRECTOR, NIIST
PH-91-471-1515333