Use of solar dryers to reduce post harvest wastage and give value addition to fruits and vegetables was emphasised at a National Workshop on Solar Dryer held here on Friday.
The workshop was organised by Bayer Material Science and its partners. Harbhajan Singh, Director-General, National Productivity Council, said that solar energy in India, which was available in plenty, could be used for drying agriculture produce.
Prof. B. Sivaramakrishnan, Chairman, A and A Solar Products, Tiruchi, said that solar dryers had been installed by Bayer Material Science at Peraiyur in Ramanathapuram district for drying chillies at Thottiam in Tiruchi district for drying bananas and at Sannasipatti for drying all vegetables. Tamil Nadu Government had announced recently that 100 solar dryers would be put up across the State with 55 per cent subsidy.
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“Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has announced in the Assembly on August 7 that 100 solar dryers will be installed at a cost of Rs.4 crore in 2014-15 for processing and value addition of agriculture produce,” he said.
Farmers were taken to Sannasipatti near Tiruchi and shown the green house solar dryer. Green House Solar dryer is an enclosed chamber which is used for drying various crops using Green House effect. It helps preserve food and increase the shelf life of the product. Covered with multi-wall polycarbonate sheet the dryer gives an insulation effect and helps maintain the temperature for a long time.
Vedha Narayanan, former Development Commissioner of Tamil Nadu Government, said that India was second and third largest producers of fruits and vegetables respectively and a significant chunk of it gets wasted because of high moisture content.
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Prof. Serm Janjai, Department of Physics, Silpakorn University, Thailand, spoke about the applications of Green House Solar Dryer.