Agro-Processing in
India – Status and Opportunities
Devinder
Dhingra
Mobile:
+91-98732-13230
India has a
geographical area of over 329 million hectares endowed with diversity of
climate, soils, flora and fauna. The rich resource endowment is however
constantly threatened with the ever increasing population thereby challenging
the food security. Agriculture is the corner stone of the economy of India but
its share (23%) is shrinking rapidly even though a majority of the labor force
(nearly 60%) is dependent on it. About 70% of India’s 1.2 billion population
lives in rural areas with small and marginal land holdings which are not enough
to achieve standards of livelihood. 80% of Indian farmers have small and
marginal farms (< 2 ha) and 90 % of them are dependent on rain fed farming.
In traditional farming practices the cost of cultivation and risk of crop
failure is so high that often the farmer is unable to recover even the money spent
by him. Agriculture thus alone cannot provide a reliable livelihood and a
sufficient means of survival for the growing population of our country.
Alternative and additional income generating opportunities are needed to
support millions of poor families who cannot support the livelihood from land
alone.
Various such strategies for
income generation and food and dietary diversification at the community and
household levels include activities like promotion of mixed cropping and
integrated farming systems; introduction of new crops (such as soybean);
promotion of underexploited traditional foods and home gardens; small livestock
raising; promotion of fishery and forestry products for household consumption;
promotion of improved preservation and storage of fruits and vegetables and
strengthening of small-scale agro-processing and food industries. Agro
processing can have a vital impact on food security by reducing food losses,
increasing income and food availability and improving access to nutritious and
fortified foods. However the majority of development work in India is
undertaken to improve food security by increasing food production and lesser
attention has been given to the role of agro processing.
Scenario
The Post Harvest processing of
agricultural products in our country consists of organised (25 %), small scale
(33 %) and un-organised (42 %) industry. The un-organised
segment accounts for more than 70 % of the output in terms of volume and 50% in
terms of value. The ICAR institutes and SAU’s have developed a number of
useful farmer centric technologies for primary and secondary processing of food
grains and horticultural crops in production catchments. The farmer centric
technologies were developed to reduce the post harvest losses and add value to the
agricultural products. These
developments mainly deal with appropriate tools and gadgets for safe and
efficient harvesting, maturity indices, safe moisture content for storage,
machinery for cleaning, grading, sorting of food grains and horticultural crops,
storage structures, evaporatively cooled storage structures, waxing and
packaging, mechanisation and standardisation of the processes for traditional
processed products, processing and value addition for novel products etc.
Use of cleaning and grading equipment in
mandies, modernisation of wheat, rice and dhal milling, use of metal bins for
storage of food grains at domestic level, CFB boxes and plastic crates for
handling and transportation of fruits and vegetables, availability of variety
of value added processed products in the markets are few things which quietly
tell the changes which have taken place in the area of post harvest technology
in our country.
The contribution of food processing
sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased to Rs 78,094 crores in
2011-12 from Rs 52,161 crore in 2006-07 with Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
of 8.0%. CAGR for agriculture sector during the same period has grown at 3.8%.
Due to technological interventions, more and more agricultural products are
being converted (in value terms) to food products. During 2010-11, 16.62 lakh
persons were employed in registered food processing industries in comparison to
14.76 lakh in the year 2006-07. The major processed food products exported
during the year 2012-12 were Guar gum, Rice-Basmati, Marine products, Meat and
Meat products, oil meals, spices, rice-other than Basmati and Wheat. These were
valued at 24,565 million US $. A nationwide assessment of harvest and post
harvest losses for 46 agricultural products was carried out in order to
quantify post-harvest losses at different unit operations. The data is useful
for planners, policy makers and other stakeholders for proper planning to
minimize post-harvest losses.
Storage (covered) capacity with FCI has
increased to 33.99 million tonnes (2013) from 23.37 million tonnes in 2005. The
CAP (cover and plinth) storage capacity has increased from 2.66 million tonnes
(2005) to 3.74 million tonnes in 2013. The storage of food grains in India by
organized sector was largely in jute bags. But recently bulk grains storage
facilities have been created at Moga (Punjab) & Kaithal (Haryana) under PPP
mode. More than 24,000 godowns with a total capacity of approx 28.3 million
tonnes have come up in rural areas. Controlled atmosphere storage facilities
for fruits (Apple) have been established.
More than 100 pack houses have been
established for fruits and vegetables. Around 50 individually quick frozen
(IQF) units have been set up for shrimp.
Challenges, Issues and
Concerns
The major challenges in the area of post
harvest technology are:
1. Reduction
in post harvest losses.
2. Creation
of storage facilities for food grains and perishables.
3. Enhancement
in level of processing of horticultural produce.
4. Improvement
in the equipment and machineries for enhanced recovery of rice, oil, and
pulses.
5. Enhance
food quality and safety.
6. Development
of viable technologies for processing and utilisation of by-products of
processing industries and crop residues.
7.
Creation of
additional income and employment opportunities in rural areas through small
scale agro-processing units in the production catchments.
Way
Forward
·
Proceesing and value addition in production
catchments.
·
Esatblsihment of grain storage facilities,
cold storages and CA storages.
·
Exploit the un-trapped potential of the vast
number of products which can be obtained from main commodities and by-products
of agricultural and horticultural crops, livestock and fishery sectors using high
end effective technologies; e.g. chitosan, pectin, anti-oxidants, vitamins,
nutraceuticals etc.
·
Setting up of agro-processing centres in the
production catchments.
·
Utilization of crop residues and processing
industries by-products
·
Develop methods for
detection and measurement of insecticide/pesticide residues, toxins and
antibiotics in food products.
·
Sensitise and upgrade the
food processing industries especially in the un-organised sector through
trainings and research on implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act
·
Develop protocols for HACCP
for food industries in un-organised sector.
Minimisation of Post-Harvest Crop Losses
Post-harvest
processing and value addition of the produce of agriculture and allied sectors
has gained prominence in the country during the recent years. Availability of
raw materials, changing lifestyles and appropriate fiscal policies has given a
considerable push to food processing industries. This sector serves as a vital
link between the agriculture and industrial segments of the economy.
Post-harvest processing and value addition is of critical importance to reduce
crop losses by increasing shelf-life of the raw and processed products.
A study of the quantitative
harvest and post-harvest losses of major crops and livestock produce was
carried out by ICAR during 2005-07. The survey was undertaken in 106 districts
of India with respect to 46 crops and commodities comprising 5 cereals, 4
pulses, 6 oilseeds, 8 fruits, 8 vegetables, 8 plantation crops and spices, 6
livestock produce and jaggery. The data collected by enquiry and by observations
in the field were scrutinized and statistically analyzed to arrive at the
overall estimates of quantitative harvest and post-harvest losses at national
level. The operations considered for assessment of losses were harvesting,
collection, threshing, grading / sorting, winnowing / cleaning, drying,
packaging, transportation, and storage depending upon the commodity. The losses
in selected cereals, pulses and oilseeds were observed in the range of 3.9-6 %,
4.3-6.1 % and 2.8-10.1 %, respectively. The losses in selected fruits and
vegetables were observed in the range of 5.8-18 %.
Reasons
for post-harvest crop losses
·
Long supply chain. At the
change of each hand the loss in quality and quantity is bound to take place.
·
Primary processing like
washing of fruits and vegetables at farm level as well as cleaning, grading of
grain is not at all followed that leads to losses during short as well as long term storage.
·
Lack of infrastructure to
properly store the grain as well as perishables is causing the losses as grains
in open are exposed to sun and rain and fruits and vegetables at low humidity
and physiological damage. The total capacity for storage of food grains is
around 25 million metric tonnes. The total capacity of the cold stores is
around 24 million metric tonnes.
·
The manpower engaged in
agriculture is also not scientifically trained. The farmers are mostly
concentrating on production.
·
Lack of proper transport is
another reason. For examples grains are transported in the gunny bags which are
reused, in reusing they become weak and also more porous to atmospheric
moisture. The spoilage during handling due to insertion of hooks is also
substantial to the tune of Rs. 15,000 crores.
·
The food material is very badly handled hence
mechanical injury, bruising, breaking takes place which spoils the food during
storage.
Issues
to be addressed for reduction in post-harvest losses
The
areas which need attention for bringing about reduction in post-harvest losses
include researchable issues as well as issues pertaining to creation of modern
infrastructure for safe storage and transportation of agro-produce. Some of the general issues to be addressed are
outlined as under:
·
Training and sensitization
of farmers, traders and the workforce on unit operations involved in
post-harvest handling, farm operations, processing, value addition and storage
activities.
·
Technologies for extraction
and isolation of high value compounds from agricultural produce. e. g. rice
bran oil, enzymes, antioxidants vitamins, flavours, fragrances, essential oils,
colours, peptides etc.
·
Instrumentation and analytical methods for
fast and accurate measurement of quality of food products with reference to
safety for human consumption.
Agro processing
for livelihood security and reduction in post harvest losses
Agro processing – technology to turn agricultural
products into processed products for market - has the potential to reduce
losses in foods, enhance food nutrition, improve incomes through employment
opportunities thereby mitigating poverty and hunger. Agro processing involves handling and
conservation of agricultural produce to make it useful as food, feed, fiber,
fuel or industrial raw material. The scope of agro processing industry includes
all the operations from harvest stage till the material reaches the end users
in desired form. Inadequate attention to agro processing sector can put both
the producer and consumer at a disadvantage and also hurt the economy of the
country. The unit operations involved in agro processing are collection,
cIeaning, grading, separation, drying, decortication, milling, cutting,
blanching, cooking, canning, freezing, packaging, transport and storage
etc.
Green revolution has made possible self sufficiency of
foods. Sometimes surplus production of a commodity affects the market price in
the markets resulting in lower selling price leading to distress sale of
commodities by farmers. The transportation of the unprocessed products to urban
areas also involves higher cost of transportation and storage of non edible
part of unprocessed foods. Processing of food materials therefore reduces the
cost of storage and transportation apart from adding a value to the product,
increasing shelf life of food and reducing losses thereby improving livelihood
of the farmers. In fact in present times the contemporary consumers also prefer
to purchase value added processed products due to saving in cooking times, less
storage space and general convenience thereof.
Agro processing can contribute to improving nutrition
directly through producing nutritious and beneficial value added end products
and indirectly through generating income to purchase a varied and nutritious
diet. Small scale agro processing technology is particularly suited to women
farmers and has an important role to play in poverty elimination. The
technology is dependent on indigenous knowledge and can be carried out in the
house enabling women to fully participate while maintaining other roles as
mother and homemaker.
There is a very high level of consumption
of processed foods in developed countries in contrast to much lower share of
processed foods in the markets of developing counties. In USA nearly 70% of
foods are value added whereas in Indian markets nearly 50% foods are not
processed and high value products occupy only 18% of the market. In India the
present status of food processing is very low (2%).
Agro processing units for rural production
catchments
Agro-processing
and value addition in rural areas can catalyze the rural incomes by creating
employment opportunities. It will also help in reduction in crop losses and
efficient utilization of by-products. The process and economic analysis of a few financially viable small scale agro-processing enterprises (rice,
wheat, spices, oil milling, soy milk, dehydration
of fruits and vegetables etc) has been conducted and is available.
Advanced technologies required
|
Sr
No
|
Area
|
Advanced
technologies needed
|
|
1.
|
Reduction in post-harvest losses
|
·
Bulk storage
structures for food grains (silos)
·
Cold-Chain for handling
and transportation of perishables (fruits/vegetables, meat, fish etc.)
including reefer vans and containers.
·
Controlled
atmosphere (CA) storage for prolonging shelf life of fruits/vegetables.
·
Food irradiation
facilities for insect disinfestations, reduction in microbial spoilage,
sprout inhibition etc.
·
Nano-composites for
packaging of fresh & processed food products
·
Smart packaging for
fruits and vegetables.
·
Instrumentation and
analytical methods for fast and accurate measurement of quality of food products
with reference to safety for human consumption.
|
|
2.
|
Value
Addition
|
·
Technologies for
extraction and isolation of high value compounds from agricultural produce.
e. g. rice bran oil, enzymes, antioxidants vitamins, flavours, fragrances,
essential oils, colours, peptides etc.
·
Food processing
technologies for making health foods / functional foods for tackling
malnutrition and disease prevention.
·
Development and
application of emerging technologies such as non-destructive quality
evaluation, extrusion processing, cryo-grinding, ohmic heating, high pressure
processing, encapsulation etc. for value addition.
·
Development and
application of biotechnology tools in the field of processing & value
addition of food products, e.g. production of high fructose corn syrup from
maize starch through immobilized enzymes.
|
Summary
India is a diverse
country and a single strategy to reduce post harvest losses and improve
processing and value addition of agricultural produce will not be effective. It
is required to have agro-processing units in production catchments to process
the produce into ingredients required for our day-to-day cooking. In scientific
terms it is called primary processing and secondary processing of agricultural
produce. Similarly we also need participation of large industries for tertiary
processing and seconadry agriculture. The activities on processing and value
addition of agricultural produce for humans and animals has a tremendous
potential in terms of income and emploument generation. Agro processing not
only generates income but also triggers development process in terms of
improved agricultural practices for sustainability and livelihood and food
security.
