Food processing ventures of the former trainees of CIH during the lockdown.
Medziphema, July 30 (MExN): Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Medziphema under the Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India is providing institutional support for development of horticulture in North East Region.
CIH in a press release stated that one of the objectives of the Institute is to deliver suitable technology to the farming community to reduce Post Harvest losses, ensure quality and food safety and it has been working tirelessly towards making a positive impact on the post harvest scenario of NE India.
During the national lockdown, the Institute has been striving to continue its activities on post harvest management and has been assisting/training interested individuals through online portal and online trainings of all aspects of food processing for entrepreneurship development in food processing sector and to encourage them to establish their own food processing units so they get a source of income of their own besides generating employment in this sector. The objective is to provide self-employment, to reduce post - harvest losses and to provide fair price to farmers/growers of their produce.
Most of these entrepreneurs have difficulty locating information on processing techniques, ingredients, equipment, regulations, and most importantly, marketing therefore the Institute has taken the initiative to provide hand holding support to the entrepreneurs. With the technical support from the Institute, the trainees have started preparing value added products like pickles, jams, candy, RTS, cold pressed juices and fruit wine etc, which are being sold from home or via home delivery system during the lockdown.
Till date CIH has conducted four online hands on training on processing and value addition of fruits and vegetables. More such trainings will be conducted on a regular basis during the lockdown period.
