By Karan Kapoor

Ludhiana, Dec.24 (ANI): A premier institute of post harvest research in Punjab is promoting the setting-up of small units of agro products among farmers by providing them with technological know-how.

Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) at Ludhiana is a major institution functioning under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Some of the agro products, which CIPHET is promoting among farmers are the processing of guava into guava bars, processing of green chilies into chili powder and chili paste.

As a part of enlightening the farmers, the institute conducts workshops in which experts from agriculture and fields help the farmers to supplement their earnings.One such workshop was recently held at Ludhiana

“This is the age of value addition. Profitability of the raw yield is very low. So if one sticks with that, the income is very low. Because of this (low profits) people leave farming, for other professions if they get fair prices in farming itself, why would they quit farming,” said Dr. R T Patil, Director, Central Institute of Post Harvest Research and Technology, Ludhiana.

The experts say that setting-up of agro-product units will increase employment opportunities in rural regions.

“People will get employment in the village itself. Farmers will get better prices for raw materials and the entrepreneurs would become job providers instead of being mere job seekers,” said Deepak Raj Rai, Head, Transfer of Technology (ToT), CIPHET.

On their part, the farmers and small entrepreneurs from the rural areas are thankful for the initiative of the CIPHET.

“With the help of training and technology know-how provided by the agriculture experts of CIPHET, I am planning to come-up in the market with packaged milk and cheese products from groundnuts in a week’s time,” said Dharmavir Singh, an agro entrepreneur.

Considering that Indian economy is based on agriculture and Punjab is a leader in this aspect, this programme by CIPHET is bound to fetch good returns for the farmers and also give a fillip to the country’s overall economy.

Hundreds of farmers have benefitted from the initiative mooted by the agronomists and agriculture technologists of CIPHET. (ANI)