Our NGO, Gramonnati Trust, went live (soft-launch) with two of our Solar Drying Projects, one in Qazigund, Anantnag District, J&K and the second in Dichpally, Nizamabad District, Telangana.
Problem of Food Waste
About 35% to 40% of fruits and vegetables produced globally are wasted between Farm and end-consumer & roughly valued at $30 billion annually (https://krishijagran.com/news/reducing-post-harvest-losses-in-fv/). Food waste causes economic losses of staggering proportions along the food value-chain.
Food waste is bad for the environment, too. Not only are the resources that went into creating the uneaten food wasted (land, water, labor, energy, manufacturing, and packaging), but when food waste goes to the landfill, which is where the vast majority of it ends up, it decomposes and creates methane, which is 25 times more deadly than carbon dioxide (https://www.epa.gov)
Solar Drying as a Grass-root Solution
In a sun-rich country like India, solar drying holds tremendous opportunities for multi-pronged growth with positive social, economic and environmental impact. It is a passive technology and not very complicated to design and implement. Solar Dryers primarily use heat trapped from sunlight for removing moisture from fruits and vegetables to the extent of 80%-90%, thereby extending their shelf life, while retaining colour, flavour, taste and nutrition of the original fruit / vegetables.
Please see my next blog on the Solar Drying Technology and its benefits.
Livelihood for Rural Women
Through our solar drying projects, we aim to provide sustained livelihood opportunities for rural women, close to their homes and also address Food Miles (distance food travels from Farm to end-consumer). This helps enhance empowerment of women in decision-making at household level as well as influence community initiatives.
Our Solar Dried Products
Solar dried products have multiple advantages in the food economy owing to their increased demand in recent years, increased shelf-life of products, enhanced quality, higher return and huge environmental benefits through reduction in carbon footprint (preventing wastage of fruits and vegetables), low water footprint and low energy footprint through use of renewable energy resources.
Project Ravi Kiran – Qazigund, District Anantnag, J&KYesterday, on 11 Mar 2023, we went live with our project at Qazigund, Anantnag District, J&K. We have implemented an input capacity of one ton per day and are increasing it to 3 tons in next three months. The Project has been implemented through CSR Grants. Through this project, we aim to provide livelihood to 70 women in villages of the region, while skilling them up to take up micro-entrepreneurship over time.
Project Ravi Kiran – Dichpally, District Nizamabad, Telangana
Simultaneously, we went live in our project at Dichpally, District Nizamabad, Telangana. We have implemented an input capacity of one ton per day and are increasing it to 3 tons in next three months. The Project has been implemented through CSR Grants. Through this Project, we aim to provide livelihood to 74 women in villages of the region, while skilling them up to take up micro-entrepreneurship over time.
In Summary,
The two projects are being implemented for 6 tons input capacity. That means, we can save up to 600 tons of fruits and vegetables through solar drying in these two sites.
We aim to provide dignified livelihood to over 140 women as part of this CSR Project for over five years. Many of the women will be trained to become micro-entrepreneurs as they develop the right skills to operate independently.
By setting up, operating and expanding our Project over time in challenging areas, we hope to contribute to nation-building at grass-root level.
Oh, by the way, all our projects are led by ex-servicemen who bring a very high degree of discipline and execution focus.
If you wish to collaborate with us in these projects, please do reach out to me at ceo@gratitudefarms.co.i
