PI: Prof Amit Arora, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA)

Co-PI: Prof Milind Rane, Mechanical Engineering Department

There is major problem of postharvest losses in fruits and vegetables. Around 30 per cent of produce gets wasted due to poor post-harvest technologies. This loss is ultimately borne by the farmers. Lack of proper storage facilities, highly unstable market puts farmers in a vulnerable condition. The current facilities are accessible only to the big farmers/middlemen who hoard the produce when supplies peak, leading to huge price fluctuations in subsequent months. Small farmers lose out, as they have to sell their produce at very low prices when market glut is observed. The project team aims to evolve possibilities for value generation which could be imagined in the form of better income of farmers through interventions such as development of on-farm standalone micro cold storage system to minimize post-harvest losses of horticulture produce. Such systems are to be built as affordable solutions to individual farmers as well as the farmers’ community. On-farm storage solutions scale down the concept of large scale refrigeration to protect perishables against spoilage before they reach the market. This can largely be seen as an integral part of tapping the value chain of agri-produce via technological routes.