Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Fatehgarh Sahib conducted five day training programme on preservation of Fruits and Vegetables from 11 to 15 February 2019. Dr. Vipan Kumar Rampal Deputy Director (Training) Krishi Vigyan Kendra gave details about the training programme and emphasized that such training programmes are need of the hour. Learning skill and applying it to earn a living and start an enterprise is important to enhance the income of the farmers and to make agriculture more profitable.The trainees were equipped with various techniques of preservation including pickles, jams, chutneys, etc. by Dr. Manisha Bhatia Assistant Professor Home Science. Demonstration on preparation of papaya jam, mixed vegetable pickle, mushroom pickle, garlic pickle, haldi pickle, peas pickle, amla candy, chawanprash and tomato sauce were given to provide hands-on experience to the trainees in preparing these recipes. The trainees can implement the skills learnt during the training at household level by preparing nutritious and healthy food at their home and ensure that their families are getting quality food free of preservatives and other chemicals.Importance of dried foods and techniques of drying were also discussed at length. Green leafy vegetables can be dried in solar dryer and stored.
The information about the use of various solar gadgets at the domestic level as well as commercial level was discussed by Dr. Sukhmeet Singh, Research Engineer, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, PAU Ludhiana. He discussed the importance of renewable energy and shared that the expenditure on gas cylinder can be reduced by the use of solar cooker. The domestic and multipurpose dryers are efficient in drying the vegetables, haldi and other agricultural produce without the loss of natural colour. The products dried in solar dryers are also of better quality. He also discussed the use of solar gyser and net metering in details. The trainees also visited the ‘Anmol Virasat’ a small scale domestic level unit started by S. Satwinder Singh and his wife Smt. Rajinder Kaur at Village Chunni Khurd. The information about the role of NABARD and other banks in providing financial assistance for starting an enterprise was given in details by Sh. Sanjeev Sharma, DDM NABARD and Sh. Surinder Bansal, LDM.