Dr Sangeeta Chopra, Principal Scientist, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and her team, in collaboration with researchers from Michigan State University (MSU), USA have recently developed the ‘Pusa Farm SunFridge’ (FSF), an on-farm green energy refrigeration system. It is the result of more than five years of work. The battery-less, stand-alone, solar-refrigerated cold structure innovation is a joint effort by scientists from ICAR-IARI, New Delhi and Dr Randolph Beaudry and Dr Norbert Mueller from MSU. In year 2019, Dr Sangeeta was granted a project titled ‘Off-grid, clean energy cooling for affordable storage of perishables for BOP farmers’ by Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) cycle 7 which entailed setting up walk-in Farm SunFridges in three villages in hot and dry states of India to test them on field conditions. She is also the recipient of a grant for an IARI-MSU collaborative project ‘Low-Carbon Footprint Cool Storage Structures to Empower Farmers: Improving Storage and Enabling Processing of Perishable Produce’, from the USAID Global Centre for Food Systems Innovation (GCFSI), USA in an international competition of ‘2014/2015 Food Systems Innovations Grant’. Dr Sangeeta Chopra shares her views on Indian agribusiness and the growing role of women entrepreneurs with AgroSpectrum . Edited excerpts;
How do agri universities help increase the contribution of women in agribusiness?
Agri universities have a role in teaching, where many of our women students are opting for startups, opening their businesses and being entrepreneurs. The agri universities are imparting education and teaching to the students. The exposure to agribusiness is very important and agri universities might come up with some schemes to encourage people to get into this business.
What challenges do women entrepreneurs face in the agri industry?
In a country like India, the majority of women are sometimes not decision makers and have less power. For example, if we look at some of the villages of Haryana, women are the ones working on fields and have the knowhow and skills, but they cannot make decisions. In agriculture, women face limitations and at times have to put in a lot of effort to overcome the challenges. Being a woman, I have myself faced many challenges.
Many times the social structure doesn’t empower women in the patriarchal society leading often to a fixed mindset and at times pay-scale disparity. There is a need to change people’s mindset, which restricts women from doing a good job or excelling in their work. Entrepreneurs and students should look up to their role models and successful women to overcome these challenges.
You have recently designed SunFridge that was showcased at the Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela 2021. Could you elaborate on the plans of this innovation?
Pusa Farm Sunfridge (FSF) is an innovative farm cold storage facility that runs entirely on solar energy. It is for the farmers’ field, and can also be used on the retail side like at mandis, etc. The temperature inside the Farm SunFridge can be maintained around 3-4°C during daytime just as in any cold store. The innovation is a battery-less off-grid cold store, with a capacity of 2 tonnes of fruits and vegetables storage. Night-time temperature is maintained at 5-8°C. The walls are made of a wet fabric to enhance cooling using evaporation as well.
The price of Pusa-FSF, depends on location, price of raw material, skilled labour etc. A good figure would be around Rs 8-10 lakh including the cost of solar panels, inverter, control system and refrigeration system. The project has received funding from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, USAID.
Furthermore, there is a scheme called Revolving Fund Scheme (RFS) in which IARI enables people to build Pusa Farm SunFridge.
How are you planning to promote SunFridge?
The plan is to make this innovation as popular as possible; Pusa Farm SunFridge is the result of a research project with USAID funding from USA as well as from IARI and has been installed in the villages of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi.
We have been improving the design of SunFridge, and the latest Farm SunFridge parts have been made portable. It is prefabricated and can be assembled using nuts and bolts; so that one can ship the whole SunFridge in a truck and to install it at a remote place.
The government has launched many new schemes and policies for the growth of women agripreneurs. What is your take on this?
I think policies of a country are important and the right kind of policies can take the country forward. Thought-out policies are very worthwhile, like ‘Mahila Kisan Sashaskht Yojana’ as the name suggests is for strengthening the women farmers, so if implemented efficiently, it can have a huge impact on the women agripreneurs/farmers.
In addition, vocational training for women and Self-Help Groups (SHG) can also make a lot of difference. For example, in Ludhiana, many SHG consisted of women making candles or pickles and their business flourished reasonably well.
In fact, we had a project, in which we trained women jail inmates in Ludhiana to enable them to have skills so they could earn their livelihoods, when they got out of jail.
SHG’s, has enabled women to build confidence and get social support to set up their own enterprises.
How can women entrepreneurs bring in a revolution in the agri community?
Women entrepreneurs can bring about a revolution in the agri community as they may prove to be better (more compassionate and sensitive) managers and might get better output from their business.
Pooja Yadav
pooja.yadav@mmactiv.com
Dr Sangeeta Chopra, Principal Scientist, Department of
