Mr. Nilesh Yuvraj Vadgave will present his APS as per following details:
Date: 28th September, 2023
Time: 1100 – 1200 hrs.
Venue: CTARA Conference Room No.1
Topic: DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOECONOMIC FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF CLIMATE AGNOSTIC ONION STORAGE STRUCTURES FOR FARMERS
Guide: Prof. Amit Arora
RPC Members: Prof. Satish Agnihotri, Prof. Shireesh Kedare
Abstract:
India with a population of 1.35 billion is the second largest producer of onion in the world (~25 Million MT in 2021). Over 70% of the onions are grown in the western and southern parts of the country. However, they are consumed across the country throughout the year. The imbalances in supply chain along with the high perishability of onions make the value chain inefficient. For the year-round consumption, onion is stored in traditional open ventilated storage structures where reported storage losses are in the range between 40 to 60%. The government is investing a large sum of money to stabilize the market prices through the construction of large sized open storage structures. Still, due to huge losses in traditional open structures, there is urgent need of affordable as well as scientific solution to this complex problem. During literature review, it was found that very less research has been done in the field of affordable and scientific storage technologies for Indian cultivars of onions. Also, there are range of users from individual farmers to the farmer groups (Cooperatives, Farmer producer companies) for the storage structures who have significant role to play in reducing post-harvest storage losses during storage handling. This needs study of Appropriate Technology creation, dissemination and role of technology entrepreneurship in rural areas. Proposed research work focuses on the development of open ventilated as well as Modular Climate Agnostic integrated curing and storage structures for onions at various capacities (10 MT to 100 MT storage structures being developed at CTARA, IIT Bombay), their appropriateness in solving postharvest loss problems, Dissemination strategies, Techno-economic feasibility and workable business models for social entrepreneurship with farmer groups. During second APS, design and construction of three such prototypes (completed) in the field will be discussed and template for the evaluation of the storage structures will be proposed.