Indian agriculture contributes significantly to GDP and employment, but there are also heavy post-harvest losses of food. There are opportunities for entrepreneurs in food processing to help reduce these losses through technologies like soy milk production, garlic and mango processing equipment, moringa and beetroot powdering, tomato puree production, and pomegranate and aloe vera gel extraction. Adopting techniques like evaporative cooling and cryogenic grinding can further help small processors improve food storage and quality. With appropriate training and resources, food processing can benefit farmers, consumers, and the overall economy.

1. Entrepreneurial Opportunities in
Food Processing Sector
Dr. R.T. Patil
Former Director, CIPHET, Ludhiana
Chairman, Benevole Welfare Society for
Post Harvest Technology, Bhopal

2. Indian Perspective
Agriculture contributes
17.4% (15%GDP) of GVA
Employs 49% workforce
Sustains approx over 54.6% of the population
India produces
285 million tons of food grains
310.74 million tons of fruits and vegetables
Ranks second in world
However very heavy losses amounting to
Rs. 1 lakh cr/year

3. Fruit production: our country ranks first in
Bananas (25.7%)
Papayas (43.6%)
Mangoes (including mangosteens and
guavas) (40.4%)
Indian produce have unique aroma, flavour, taste,
nutritional properties and health benefits, such as
Jamun, Amla, Bel fruit, Aonla, Pomegranate,
Custard Apple, etc.
Low level of systematic processing of fruits and
vegetables at only 10%.
Indian Perspective

4. Reasons for Losses
1. Handling of raw produce through many stages of
middlemen
2. Low level of processing mostly in urban areas which
leads to wastage of valuable by-products
3. Non availability of sufficient cold chain facilities
4. Non availability of adequate equipment and
machinery for small scale processing
5. Lack of facilities for training, incubation and
handholding of entrepreneurs
Higher the processing
- Better the Post Harvest Management
- Lower Will Be Losses

5. 1. Can provide processed food of highest quality at
affordable cost to consumers
2. Ensure traceability of raw materials used for processed
product hence great for export and elite urban market
3. Help effective backward linkage with farmers for
processing their raw produce
4. Shorten the supply chain, increase the profitability of
farmers and ultimately increase in GDP from agriculture
and reduce poverty
5. Reduce post harvest losses and increase availability of
by products for animal feed
Agro Processing in
Production Catchment

6. Agro Entrepreneurship

7. Agro Entrepreneurship

8. Selected Innovative
Technologies

9. Processing of Soymilk & its Products

10. Soybean/Groundnut Milk
• Enriched with phytochemicals and micronutrients
to fight life style diseases like: Diabetes; CHD/CVD;
Osteoporosis; Menopausal syndrome; Blood pressure
Capacity: 20 lit/batch, Cost: 3.0-5.0 Lakh

11. Extrusion Expelling Technology

12. Garlic Processing Machines
Garlic Flaking MachineGarlic PeelerGarlic Bulb Breaker
Capacity-800 kg/h Capacity-400 kg/h Capacity-40-50 kg/h
Garlic is widely used to prevent for several conditions linked to the
blood system and heart.
Garlic is also used for the prevention of many type of cancers.

13. Method to Prepare Dried Garlic Slices
 The cloves are
separated, peeled and
sliced across the length.
 Slices of 3mm thickness
are dipped in 0.5%
sodium metabisulphite
solution for 15 min at
ambient temperature.
 Dried to 6% moisture
content (db) in a fluidized
bed dryer at 60oC air
temperature.
 Slices obtained should be
immediately packed in
airtight containers.
Plant & machinery : Stainless Steel knives,
Fluidised bed dryer, Work tables, Dipping tanks etc.
Manpower :10-15 kg raw garlic/ person for 8 h,
Investment: USD 4000 approx.
Capacity:10-15 kg dried garlic slices/ day.

14. Raw mango
cube cutter
Peels raw mango
Capacity – 200 kg/h
Cost – Rs. 1,00,000
Slices mango 4,6 & 8 pieces
Capacity – 1 tonne/h
Cost – Rs 1,00,000
Slices mango to cubes
Capacity – 500 kg/h
Cost – Rs. 1,50,000
Mango Processing Machinery-IIHR
Raw mango
slicer
Raw mango
peeler

15. Moringa Processing

16. Crushed Tomato Technology
• Intermediate processing technology
to produce tomato puree in
production catchment and its cold
storage for further use by ketchup
or soup or juice manufacturers is
best option to avoid price
crash/distress sale and provide
local employment
• Crushed tomato is an intermediate
product developed by ICAR-IIHR
where inclusion of seed and skin
adds to the consistency and colour
of the product and can be used as a
substitute to the fresh tomato for
various curry preparation

17. Powdering Technology for Beetroot
It is beneficial to the blood, heart and digestive system.
It has been regarded as a laxative; a cure for bad
breath, coughs and headaches; and aphrodisiac.
More recently, it has been advocated as a cancer
preventive and as a means of bolstering the immune
system.

18. OSMO-CONVECTIVE DEHYDRATION OF
KINNOW SEGMENTS
PROCESS
KINNOW
PEELING
SEPARATING OF SEGMENTS
REMOVAL OF SEEDS
DIPPING IN 60 % SUGAR
SYRUP FOR 6 h
DRAINING OF SYRUP
DRIED SEGMENTS
(60 OC FOR 10-12 h)

19. CIPHET Process of Mechanical
Dewatering and Drying
 Process- The onions are washed,
peeled and mechanically dewatered
prior to drying with centrifugal juicer.
 Partial mechanical dewatering results
in 60.98% less consumption in
energy than conventional methods.
 Additional high value products i.e.,
onion juice and onion powder.
 The optimum combinations are 60%
dewatering and 60-70C temp.
 Onion juice was concentrated to 75%
solids for increasing its shelf life.
 Storage studies of onion powder
showed that there has been no
significant loss in quality even after 2
months storage at room temperature.

20. Minimal Processing of Pomegranate Arils
Arils are treated with chlorinated
water for 5 minutes
•Sodium hypochloride (100 ppm) +
Antioxidant for 30 seconds
(5% Ascorbic Acid)
•Packed in 25μ semi permeable film
and store at 5±1ºC
Maintains quality, colour and shelf
life up to 16 days with good
physical and microbiological
conditions.

21. Higher aril extraction
capacity
= 5.0 quintal/h
Aril extraction/ separation
efficiency
= range of 90-94%
Mechanical damage
received by arils
= 1-2%
Mechanical Pomegranate Aril Extractor
Including Hand Tool

22. Green Chili Processing into Powder and Puree
Chilies powder has higher nutrition and
controlled pungency.
The green chilies have more Vitamin C
& A and antioxidant properties.
About 130 g of green chilies powder
and 300 mL puree could be prepared
from 1 kg of fresh green chilies.
The cost of the plant for the processing
200kg of green chilies per day is
estimated at Rs.7,13,000.
The break even point comes to 49.15%
and pay back period is 1.91 years.
1kg of green chilies costing Rs.15/-, the
value added product of Rs. 100/- could
be marketed.
Chili Puree
Green Chili Powder

23. Aloe Vera Gel Extractor
Aloe vera gel should be extracted
within 6 hours and processing must
be completed within 36 hours.
The inner clear gel that contains
99% water and rest made of
glucomannans, amino acids, lipids,
sterols, vitamins, etc.
The equipment capacity:
200-225kg gel/h; 900-1000 leaves/h
for motorised
100kg gel/h; 400-450 leaves/h for
manual machine
The extracted gel is clean and
without any physical damage.

24. Cryogenic Grinder
All contact parts of machine are made of stainless
steel.
The ground spice is collected through cyclone system
and sieved into different grades.
Product with natural flavour & all medicinal attributes is
obtained.
The capacity of grinder is 30
to 50 kg/h
The grinding system
consists of a self-
pressurized liquid nitrogen
cylinder of 185 litre capacity
Cryo-precooler of capacity
30-50 kg/h

25. Evaporatively Cooled Room for Storage of
Fruits and Vegetables
The cost of the chamber is USD 1500 and capacity is 2 tonnes
An evaporatively cooled (EC) room (3x3x3m size) was
developed for on-farm storage of fruits and vegetables
Ordinary room E’Cooled room
Summer xoC =X - 5 to 8 oC
Winter yoC =y + 5 to 8 oC
E’Cooled room Ordinary room
34 21
23 11
11 2
4 2
TemperatureShelfLife

26. An Appeal
The fruits are high value nutraceutical and
functional foods
Consume one seasonal fruit a day to get
vitamins and minerals for good health.
Greet with a basket of fruits so fruit
consumption among Indians is increased.
Consume fruit jam and use it to make milk
shakes to increase consumption of jam which
is an easy to make and healthy processed
food.

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