VAIGA Assists In Expanding Post-Harvest Agricultural Operations

State Agriculture Department will work with the Indian Institute of Packaging in Mumbai to sell agricultural products in an appealing packaging.

The State Agriculture Department will work with the Indian Institute of Packaging in Mumbai to sell agricultural products in an appealing packaging. An MoU for this was inked at the Agriculture Department's ongoing Value Chain Development in Agriculture 2023 programme at Putharikandam Maidan.

"The agriculture department is concentrating on value-added products to reduce produce waste, to transport them to far locations, to assure the safety of food and nutrition, and to provide additional employment opportunities in production, processing, and sale. In Kerala, value-added products hold a distinct place in the economy. By combining the production and selling of farmers' collectives, agriculture can become more profitable,” according to an official statement.

As per the press release, “Customers and manufacturers are connected by packaging and branding. They are crucial for the sale of products with value added. Senior IIP officials visited the VAIGA and met with local stakeholders.”

The Memorandum of Understanding would aid in the transfer of technology for modern packaging and modern technologies that will aid farmers' collectives, producers' organizations, and entrepreneurs in developing value-added products to find new markets in India and globally.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by IIP director R K Mishra and Samethi Director George Sebastian. As part of the MoU, Samethi will work for the government to coordinate programmes.

As part of VAIGA-2023, a discussion on value-added product chain development was organized. Rajasekharan, the Chairman of the Kerala State Agricultural Prices Board, presided over the seminar. According to Sekhar Babu Jadram, Managing Director of the Andhra Pradesh State Development Corporation, sowing materials are produced in Andhra Pradesh using poly houses, net houses, and tissue cultures.

According to ICAR-KVK Principal Scientist Muraleedharan, turmeric is sold under the name Onattukara Spices by the Onattukara Spices Farmer Producer Company. According to him, the business has a good system in place for generating high-quality sowing materials, plant care, procurement, branding, and marketing.

Meghna Kelkar discussed the Sanjeevani project in Maharashtra, which is financed by the World Bank, while Vijay Kalekkar discussed Sahyadri FPO. Devesh Kumar discussed the stores that Jeevi FPO, a World Bank-funded organization in Bihar, uses to market its goods. Kalyanasundran, chief marketing officer of Thottiyam Banana Producers Group, discussed the output of his business.