23 May 2014|Noida | I2 Moot Court Hall
Delegation from Rockfeller Foundation visits Amity University, Noida
A Delegation from Rockfeller Foundation visited Amity University todiscuss potential collaboration in the area of agriculture/Post Harvesttechnology. The delegation compressed of representatives from various countriessuch as United Kingdoms, Kenya, Africa, North America and South America.
The panelist for the interactionsession included Mr. Pankaj Kumar,Director, Ministry of Food Processing Industry; Mr. S.K Sharma, MD, Global AgriSystem; Mrs. P. Alli Rani, Director, Container Corporation of India; Mr. PawanexhKohli, CEO, National Centric of Cold Chain Development and Prof. (Dr.) Sunil Saran, Vice Chairman, Amity Science, Technology andInnovation Foundation.
Addressing the gathering, Prof. (Dr.) Sunil Saran, said thatworldwide, every year tonnes of food wastage occurs during production,post-harvest handling and storage, and affects farmers who produce the product.He opined that improving technology at the start of the food chain, such asproviding farmers with better means of storing crops, is as essential as toreduce wastage. He further added that in India, that were various technologicalsupports that have been developed to reduce the wastage but the problem ofwastage needs to be tackled at international level especially in developingcountries.
During the interaction querieswere posed by the members of delegation on the functioning of cold chaintechnology in India, Intervention of Government in the sector, issues regardingpower supply to the storage area and the future expansion plans with the technology,the representatives from Amity very efficiently handled all the queries.
Addressing the queries, Mr. Pankaj Kumar briefed that Indian Governmentaccord high importance to food waste and various scientists and researchers arecoming up with pioneering solutions; establishment of cold chain storage is oneof them. The Ministry is directly supporting the integrated cold chainventures, conducting studies to assess the reasons for food loss and also doingefforts to prevent post-harvest losses. He stressed that in India, thegovernment intervention is required in the issues pertaining price fixing,subsidizing and also in direct buy from the farmers. It will benefit both thefarmers and consumers, the farmers will get the appropriate price for theirproducts and consumers would get products at minimal prices.
Sharing his views, Mr. Pawanexh Kohli said that Cold Chainis not only about managing the food loss but also developing the networkbetween farmers and the market, as the farmers suffer due to the non-existenceof direct approach methods to reach market. The Cold Chains are placedstrategically in various places that is close to the market, the aim is to makecold chain storage as the source point that creates multiple supply lines. He revealed the target of National Centre ofCold Chain Development for next five years is that atleast half of thepopulation of farmers could approach five different markets.
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, FounderPresident- Amity Group said that it is historical moment for Amity asdelegation from Rockfeller Foundation has visited Amity University. Dr. Chauhanfurther said that the development of any country is totally dependent on foodsecurity. He said that 40% of food product is wasted while travelling fromfield to fork due to lack of proper post harvest technology and Cold Chainmanagement. Dr. Chauhan said that it is pleasure to see the delegationconsisting of members from Kenya, UK, Brazil, Ivory Cost, Zimbabwe, Burkina,and Fargo amongst others. Dr. Chauhan states that Amity had developed Cool Boutwhich is the cheapest way to conserve fruits & vegetables in largequantities. This aims to develop all developing countries through properharvest technology.