51 Farmers Across 10 States Complete 4-Day Food Processing Training at IFFCO Phulpur

Prayagraj : A four-day regional training workshop on fruit preservation and food processing successfully concluded at CORDET (Motilal Nehru Farmers Training Institute), IFFCO Phulpur. The program brought together 51 farmers from 10 Hindi-speaking states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Maharashtra.

Technical Insights in Fruit & Food Processing
Principal of CORDET, Dr. Vivek Dixit, shared that the primary objective of the program was to empower farmers with post-harvest technologies to boost income through value-added agricultural products.

Throughout the four days, domain experts led hands-on technical sessions:

Amla Processing & Beekeeping: Virendra Singh, In-charge of Beekeeping, demonstrated techniques for making amla murabba, juice, laddu, barfi, and pickles, alongside commercial honey production methods.

Mushroom Cultivation: Dr. Hemlata Pant, Assistant Professor at CMP Degree College, Prayagraj, trained participants on mushroom farming and creating processed mushroom items.

Black Crops & Value Addition: Ravi Prakash Maurya, Founder of Black Crops FPO, showcased processing and marketing strategies for novel crops like black wheat, black potatoes, and black ginger into consumer products such as porridge (daliya) and biscuits.

Product Selection & Marketing: Senior CORDET Official Savita Shukla guided farmers on selecting high-demand fruit preservation products and adopting efficient marketing strategies.

Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture
Addressing soil sustainability, Dr. Anuradha Rai, In-charge of the Bio-Fertilizer Unit, explained proper application methods for quality bio-fertilizers to ensure high-yield, healthy crop production.

In his concluding address, Dr. Vivek Dixit urged farmers to pivot toward soil testing-based balanced fertilizer usage. He emphasized integrating nano-fertilizers alongside tradition-based bio-fertilizers to reduce cost and preserve soil vitality.

As part of the practical curriculum, participating farmers toured CORDET's various operational units and the state-of-the-art IFFCO Nano Plant, gaining direct exposure to modern nano-fertilizer production and field application standards.

(Report by Zainul Abdin)