Technology developed to keep jasmines fresh even after 72 hrs

 Saris woven in Tamil Nadu will have a rare ingredient—banana fibres. Hyderabad bakeries are selling chapatis that come packed with nutrition of not just wheat, but all grains.

Indian agriculture is brimming with such innovation, helping people break free from the traditional wheat-rice cycle. Thanks to new technologies, farmers now have more options at their hands with which they could go for high-value products.

Take the case of jasmine. Because of an innovation in packaging technology from the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, the flowers as well as tuberose buds are finding more market space overseas.

“The new packaging technology has increased the shelf-life of jasmine up to 72 hours.
As a result, the jasmine export volume in the Dubai markets has gone up from 600 kg per day to 900 kg and in the US market, it is now 1,000 kg per week from the earlier 500 kg,” Bangali Babu, Director for National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) told Deccan Herald.

The NAIP is a six-year-long $250-million partnership between the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and the World Bank, catalysing innovation in farm technology. “With NAIP, farmers are showing interest in secondary agriculture like food processing and high-value crops. Ten business process development models are in place to scale up farm technologies suiting market needs,” said S Ayappan, ICAR Director-General.

The second case is of banana fibre. The innovative modifications made in yarn machines by the Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology in Mumbai have led to the extraction of fibre from banana, which can be used while weaving saris. About 7,400 tonnes of fibre was extracted with 20 machines, and 80 kg yarn prepared during 2009-10.

Subsequently, 5,300 kg fibre was sent to Empire Jute Mills in Kolkata for spinning yarn from the fibre. The encouraging results have led to more commercial units coming up in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. “In five to ten years, banana fibre may be used to make shirts and trousers,” said S P Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticulture), at the ICAR.

The next revolution is in Indian bread.

Chapatis are now being made out of a mix of sorghum, wheat, soybean, bajra, ragi, maize and barley as against wheat before.

It is doing brisk business in Hyberabad after a local bakery, Bakers Point, started selling the chapatis through its four outlets in the city. The technology was developed by the Directorate of Sorghum Research in Hyderabad under the NAIP.