Port Blair, Aug 6: The ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CIARI) here conducted a three-day training-cum-demonstration programme on “Post harvest processing and value addition of mango, pine apple and jamun” under the aegis of National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP), Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt. of India in association with National Co-operative Union of India (NCIU). Altogether, 36 women from four Self Help Groups (SHG’s) and five clusters of villages of South Andaman participated in the training.
Inaugurating the training, Dr. R. K Gautam, Director (I/C), CIARI briefed the trainees about the scope and prospect of value addition techniques for locally available food crops for SHG’S/farm women/rural youths as a mean for enhancing livelihood security. He urged participants to effectively learn about the standardised technology available at CIARI to utilize at domestic as well as market level. Various lectures were delivered on the package of practices, pest and disease problem for production of quality fruits in orchards, phytochemicals in foods and importance of processed foods, shelf-life enhancement, microbial load and food safety etc. by the resource persons of ICAR-CIARI and KVK, Nimbudera. Dr. B. Gangaiah, HOD, Division of Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Mr. Surendranath Singh, Project Officer, NCUI, Port Blair were also present on the occasion.
The programme was organized by the course coordinator, Dr. Sachidananda Swain, Scientist, Division of NRM and I/C, Food Processing Training Centre (FPTC) with Dr. K. Abirami, Scientist, Division of Horticulture and Forestry, and Dr. Pooja Kapoor, KVK-SMS, Home Science, Nimbudera as two co-coordinators. During the training, the trainees were given hands-on experience on preparing juice, mixed fruit jam and pickles from pine apple and mango.
Addressing the valedictory function on Aug 5, Dr. R.K Gautam, stated that all efforts will be made to ensure that technological interventions by CIARI reach the farmers effectively. Dr. Pooja Kapoor proposed the vote of thanks.
