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Agroprocessing
Agro processing could be defined as set of technoeconomic
activities carried out for conservation and
handling of agricultural produce and to make it usable
as food, feed, fibre, fuel or industrial raw material.
Hence, the scope of the agro-processing industry
encompasses all operations from the stage of harvest
till the material reaches the end users in the desired form,
packaging, quantity, quality and price. Ancient Indian
scriptures contain vivid account of the post harvest and
processing practices for preservation and processing of
agricultural produce for food and medicinal uses.
Inadequate attention to the agro-processing sector in the
past put both the producer and the consumer at a disadvantage and it also hurt the economy of the
Country.
Agro-processing is now regarded as the sunrise sector
of the Indian economy in view of its large potential for
growth and likely socio economic impact specifically
on employment and income generation. Some estimates
suggest that in developed countries, up to 14 per cent
of the total work force is engaged in agro-processing
sector directly or indirectly. However, in India, only
about 3 per cent of the work force finds employment in
this sector revealing its underdeveloped state and vast
untapped potential for employment. Properly developed,
agro-processing sector can make India a major player
at the global level for marketing and supply of processed
food, feed and a wide range of other plant and animal
products.
Historical Prespective
By the middle of the nineteenth century, common
agro processing industries included hand pounding units
for rice, water power driven flour mills, bullock driven
oil ghanies, bullock operated sugarcane crushers, paper
making units, spinning wheels and handloom units for
weaving. In British India, during the year 1863, a note
was written by the Governor of Madras state, Sir
William Denison to the government of Madras state for
laying greater stress on agriculture and agro processing
(Royal Commission, 1928). Based on this, a set of
improved machinery was brought from England for
demonstration and adoption. It included threshing
machines, winnowers, chaff cutters, besides steam
ploughs, steam harrows, cultivators, seed drills and
horse hoes. The demonstration continued at Saidapet
near Madras till 1871 with little outcome.
Importance of agro-processing sector was first
realized and documented after the disastrous famine of
Bengal during 1870’s. Report of the Famine
Commission, set up by the British Government, in its
report submitted in 1880, clearly stated the need for
agricultural improvement and improved post harvest
infrastructural development specifically, rail network.
Need was also felt for incorporating chemical
interventions in the agricultural sector and precision
farming through agricultural mechanisation manned by
engineers. The Royal Commission on Agriculture setup
by the British Government, conducted a detailed study.
In its report published during the year 1928, it calledfor scientific approach to the sector and stressed for
developing rural industries and cooperatives.
Crop and Commodity Wise Status of Agro-Processing Industries and Problems
The commodity-wise growth of agro-processing industries in the country during the years 1950 to 2000 has been as given below.
Rice Processing Industry
Starting with 20.6 Mt of rice production during 1950- 51, the country has come a long way to produce about 94.8 Mt of rice in the year 1999-2000. Similarly, in processing sector, the technology has undergone significant changes. Earlier, hand pounding, pedal operated system and Engleberg huller units were common for milling of paddy. By he year 1998-99, there were nearly 30,000 modern rice mills using rubber rolls for paddy dehusking. Of these, more than 5,000 are large rice mills with parboiling facility and nearly 100 have colour sorters for removal of discoloured rice for export market.
Innovations in rice processing include improved process of parboiling developed at IIT, Kharagpur; CFTRI, Mysore; PPRC, Thanjavur and other R&D centres. Starting from sun drying, the technology for drying of paddy now includes use of a variety of driers, specifically for parboiled paddy. Continuous flow LSU type driers have been most commonly used units followed by tray driers (batch type). Thermic fluids are used as medium of heat transfer for heating the air used for drying in a large number of rice mills. Though efforts have been made to improve the rice hullers, limited success was achieved in improving their performance with respect to reduction in broken percentage. Rubber roll technology for dehusking has now been well established. Efforts are ongoing to find use of tafflon to replace rubber rolls for economy. Several types of rice bran stabilizer have been designed and tested. Chemical method developed at CFTRI, Mysore; steam heating at IIT, Kharagpur, electrical heating method developed at Pantnagar could find limited applications in Industry.
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