Purandar Scores With Fruit Pulp And Spreads | Pune News – Times of India

0
83

[google-translator]

PUNE: A custard apple that needs both palms to fit in and weighs half a kg, figs so tempting that eating a handful is never enough, and guavas that entice with colour, fragrance and taste tell a story of smart farming in Singapur, a village in dry Purandar taluka, some 60km from Pune in Maharashtra.

food processing

Farmers now produce better quality fruits, send them to cities across the country, process lip-smacking pulp and spreads, have tied up with big online retailers, and are a lesson in management and how to turn the tide. It was not so till seven years ago. Local farmer Rohan Ursul was studying for an MBA in Pune when he went to Berlin where he saw how fruits were ferried all over the world. Encouraged by his family which deals in fruits, Ursul saw the potential to change the traditional ways. In 2015, he brought together 14 progressive farmers and they started Purandar Highlands Farmers’ Producer Company Ltd, a farmer-producer company.
Based on a farm-to-the-table model, it helps farmers with a selection of saplings, pruning, implementing good agricultural practices, expanding their market reach, and coming up with processed products.
Singapur Farmers’ Diary
At 8.30am on most days, the dust is rising on the dirt tracks as villagers hasten to reach the company’s collection centre. In ones and twos, the growers arrive on motorcycles and in vans. Their baskets are filled with custard apples, figs and guavas which they deposit at the centre. Here, the produce is sorted based on weight and quality. Prices vary, according to the quality, but remain fixed for the entire week. Farmers collect their payments and leave. Some return with another lot of produce. “We accept all fruits, irrespective of the quality, and collect around 2.5 tonnes of produce daily from farmers,” Ursul said.
The centre takes fruits grown in other villages like Vanpuri, Guroli, Waghapur, Pisarve, Rajewadi, Ambale and Pargaon in the taluka.
The collection continues till about 1pm. Next, each fruit is brushed to remove pests, wrapped in foam or paper, put in boxes, labelled, and sealed. Then they are dispatched to the airport or by road to neighbouring cities for retail sales.
Fruit Pulp Goes Places
But the day’s work is not done as yet. Second and third-grade varieties of fruits are sent to the processing centre in Jadhavwadi, a nearby village, to be turned into pulp or spreads.

food

Taluka agriculture office Suraj Jadhav said food processing units have brought prosperity. “In the last two-three years, around 25 big and small food processing units have come up. Earlier, farmers would sell their produce at whatever price they fetched for the highly perishable figs, custard apples and guavas. Now, they take it to the processing centres.” Growers said they earn well when they deal with these units. “Previously, we would produce just enough for the local market. Prices used to be determined by middlemen. But, food processing units give us good prices for our produce,” farmer Abhijeet Lawande said.
Small allied units have sprung up and provided jobs to hundreds. Around 1,000 to 1,500 people are directly or indirectly associated with the food processing units. “Each FPO employs around 35 women, each earning Rs350-Rs400 rupees per day,” Jadhav said.
These organisations aggregate produce, sort according to quality, and give the best price to farmers. They also sell the produce through their network across the state and in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and elsewhere where there have already established transport links, Dilip Zende, state director of agriculture, quality control, said.
Drip Irrigation Boost
It is a tale of ingenuity, some smart thinking, and making the most of what nature gives in small measures. Purandar is drought-prone and landholdings are small preventing farmers from increasing their agriculture production. Cultivators have thus remained historically poor. Besides the company, the catalyst came when they went big on farm ponds in the taluka. Some 2,000 of them were dug. It assured adequate irrigation needed for cultivating quality fruits.
They also tapped government schemes. “There are World Bank-aided schemes for farmers’ collective in food processing. They also receive 60% subsidy under the State of Maharashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation scheme,” Dnyaneshwar Bote, director of Agricultural Technology Management Agency, Pune district, said. Farmers now practice lift irrigation by drawing water from farm ponds and wells. , Bote added.
Earlier, farmers had to sell low-grade fruits at throwaway prices. “Now, they now know that their inferior produce will not go to waste,” cultivator Mayur Lawande said. The demand for pulp has spurred competition among farmers to increase fruit production. “Currently, around 2,150 hectares in the taluka is under custard apple, 650 hectares under figs, and 90 hectares under guava cultivation,” Jadhav said. Food processing is a round-the-year activity in the taluka. “Extraction of pulp from custard apples begins in July and continues till November. From December, the work to draw strawberry pulp starts. The produce is brought from Mahabaleshwar. Next, the extraction of pulp from figs begins and goes on till January-February. Then, we move on to mango pulp,” he added.
The company’s red guava spread and fresh fig spread have big takers. “We have tied up with Kayani Bakery and German Bakery for supplying these spreads. We have already come up with hot and sweet white guava spread and Devgad mango spread, which will be launched soon. Next, we plan to introduce jamun spread, strawberry spread, a dessert made from custard apple, and ready-to-drink fig juice,” Ursul said.
Help one, help all
Some FPOs help farmers sell their produce on major online portals. “We have tied up with a big group to supply fresh fruits at the airports they run,” said Ursul. “We are encouraging farmers to set up their own companies and market products,” Jadhav added. In 2021, Purandar highlands registered as an FPO. One of their directors, also a farmer, has a master’s degree in botany. He helps the farmers with sapling selection. Another director has his own guava and fig farm. He uses his knowledge of microbiology to look after the processing. So far, it has registered 40 farmers who are on the payrolls of the company.

Source link

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here