India’s Agro Industries: Need To Adopt Better Technology For Producing Cheap & Quality Products

Since 1950, while putting a lot of emphasis on the production of various agricultural crops, India started agro-processing industries in a modest way. However, agro-industries, particularly in the rural areas, have been facing problems like low capacity utilisation, poor recovery of finished products from raw material, want of adequate working capital, low-quality product, inefficient management, frequent disruption of electricity, and water supply, etc.

To boost the development of agro-industries in keeping with increasing agricultural production, the government should take all measures to create a conducive atmosphere for them. In this regard, an account of the status of some of the major agro-industries is given briefly.

Rice processing industry

Rice production during the years 1950 to 2000, increased from 20.6 million tons (MT) to about 89 MT. During this period, the technology in this area has also undergone significant changes from hand pounding and pedal-operated systems to modern rice mills using rubber rolls for paddy de-husking.

At present, out of about 30,000 modern rice mills, more than 5,000 large ones with parboiling facilities are in operation. Innovations in the processing of rice include improved parboiling, continuous flow type dryers, and tray dryers. In a large number of rice mills, thermic fluids are used as a medium of heat transfer for heating the air used for drying.

The value-added products of rice include puffed and flex rice used as snack foods. The packaging technology for milled rice for ready to cook has been developed for domestic market and export. Quick-cooking rice technology has been developed for supplying to defense personnel. Rice is cooked and packed under highly sanitary conditions. It is autoclaved and supplied for safe use for up to six months. Rice bran oil is produced to use as edible oil and for soap making. Efforts have been made to use rice husk for producing furfural, high-grade silicon, insulation material, particleboard, etc. But using rice husk as a source of fuel as it is being practiced currently in rice mills, is not advisable as more value-added products can be obtained from this.

Wheat processing

In 2000, India produced about 76 MT of wheat and was the second-largest producer in the world. Wheat contains 12% bran, 3% embryo, and 85% flour and is processed for producing atta, maida, suji, and Dalia. Wheat is now being used in every household in the form of atta, suji, bread, biscuit, etc.

In the area of wheat milling, mini flour mills with higher efficiency on a small scale have been developed. Traditionally used small-size ‘atta chakkis’ are being replaced by better-mechanised ‘chakki’ with lower pollution label with better efficiency. The number of roller flour mills is also increasing steadily with increasing demand for bread and biscuit. However, the demand for bread is likely to grow faster than that for biscuits. Among diversified wheat products, full bran wheat bread is gaining popularity. Many more developments are needed in this area.

 Pulses (daal) based industry

India’s production of pulses at the beginning of the century was about 14 MT. In the country, there are about 15,000 Daal mills of 100 to 500 tons per day capacity. In the Daal industry, the pulses are subjected to a temperature of about 120 ^o C for a short period, and then dehusking is done by carborundum rollers.

However, for small entrepreneurs in rural areas, small Daal mills have been designed and are being used. In some major Daal mills, improved machinery including cleaners, graders, magnetic separators, washers, dryers, polishers, colour shorter, and packing systems are being used. In recent years, some more efficient machines have been developed to improve the recovery of the products and economise the energy consumption. There is a need to develop technology for quick cooking and ready-to-eat Daal such as ‘Instant Daal’.

Oilseed-based industry

In India, like rice, wheat, and pulses, different types of oil or hydrogenated oil (Vanaspati) are being used in every household. The per capita consumption of oil in India is about 8 kg per year and out of this 2 kg per capita is imported oil.

At the beginning of the century, the production of oilseeds in the country was about 24.5 MT. Out of the total production, 7% is used as seed, 8% for food, and 85% for oil extraction. Earlier, processes of extracting oil from oilseeds were in bullock-operated oil ‘ghanies’ or mechanical oil expellers.

In such a process, a good amount of oil is left in the cake. In 2000-2001, there were nearly 2.5 lakhs oil ‘ghanies’, 6000 oil expellers, and 700 solvent extraction plants. In addition to these, there were 200 oil refining units and 100 hydrogenated oil production units.

At present, efforts are being made to improve the extraction of oil from oilseeds through various pre-treatments including steaming.  Recently, some developments have been made in the design of bullock-operated ‘ghanies’ to make these suitable for operating by 1.5 kW electric motor.

In this way, ‘ghanies’ oil production capacity has increased. The pungent oil generally produced in the ‘ghanies’, is sometimes mixed with oil that is obtained from mechanical oil expellers to suit the tastes of a section of people.

Solvent extraction of edible oil is done by using food-grade hexane. Due to a shortage of oilseeds to get the required amount of oil, some edible oil from non-traditional sources including rice bran and palm oil is produced and used. In the areas of packaging, edible oil poly packs and plastic container have gained popularity over metal containers. Besides other oilseeds, soybean has become an important crop in India with an annual production of 5.3 MT at present.

Soybean contains 48% proteins and 20% oil. It is suggested that the soya food being nutritious and economical, its production should be promoted.  It is reported that the export of oilseed cake worth fifteen thousand million rupees is done at present. Instead of exporting, these should be processed in the country to produce food products.

Sugarcane-based industry

Sugarcane-based agro-industries are one of the major ones in India. In 2000-2001, India produced about 3 MT of sugarcane, out of which about 80% of the cane is milled. At present, about 50% of sugarcane harvested in India is used to produce refined white sugar, and the rest for the production of Gur (jaggery) and Khandsari in public, private and cooperative sectors.

For producing Gur, the canes are crushed and juice is clarified and concentrated. Gur has got better nutritional value than white sugar. Energy-efficient furnaces, concentration pans, clarificants, moulds, and storage facilities are needed for Gur, Khandsari units. Use of open pan in place of vacuum pans for concentration results in sugar of lower quality compared to white sugar.

The wastes obtained in sugar industries include bagasse, dry leaves, and molasses. At present, the sugar industries meet their energy requirement mostly through the burning of bagasse in boilers-steam turbine units. However, it is wiser to use other types of cheap fuels in such units and save most of the ‘bagasse’ for paper industries. Bagasse is a very good raw material for producing high-quality paper. It is reported that a large number of sugar mills are using outdated technology and equipment and as a result, the cost of production is higher.

Fruits and vegetables-based industry

India is considered to be a major producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. During 2000-2001, India produced about 45 MT of fruits and 80 MT of vegetables. However, due to the lack of various infrastructures including cold storage facilities, large amounts of these get wasted.

In 2000, there were about 6,000 fruits and vegetable processing units in India. It is reported that the food processing units have grown steadily from 0.27 MT in 1980 to about 3 MT in 2000. This has been possible by adopting developed technology.

Significant developments in technology to provide a better understanding of the problem of ripening of fruits, optimum harvesting time, cold storing, cleaning, waxing, packaging, etc. have taken place. The R&D work carried out in this area has helped to adopt better technology for ripening of the fruits under control conditions.

The value-added agro-industries include jam, jelly, and pickled products. However, some technology is still being imported for establishing large-scale export-oriented units for the production of food items like banana paste, the concentration of food juices, sorting, clearing, waxing, and packaging of raw fruits and vegetables. By the end of the period 1998-1999, in India, the share of different products in processing of fruits and vegetables were pulp and juice 27%, jams and jelly 10%, pickles 12%, ready to serve beverages 13%, syrups 8%, squash 4%, tomato product 4%, canned vegetables 4% and other products 18%.

The fruits and vegetable industries are facing problems like technological obsolescence, low capacity utilisation, and marketing. To further develop this industry, it is necessary to give more R&D support particularly for product development and energy conservation in processing.

Meat & fish industry

In India, the agro industries-based raw materials like meat, poultry, and fish are not in tune with the requirements. Meat and poultry production in India together has been about 4.6 MT per year with goat and sheep contributing 54%, buffalo and cattle 20%, poultry 13%, and pig 7%.

In addition, a large amount of potentiality is there for pisciculture in rivers and ponds as well as catching fish from the deep sea. The country has got 7500 km long coastal line and an exclusive economic zone of 2.02 million square kilometers, 1,91,024 km of rivers and canals, and 4.4 million hectares of reserves and freshwater lakes thus providing enormous potentiality for fishing.

Most of the meat, fish, and poultry in India is used as fresh or in dried form. In India, modern technologies for processing meat and fish have not been satisfactorily utilised for processing and canning these. Due to unsatisfactory conditions and non-availability of proper infrastructure, the processing industries in India in these areas are very few and the export is very limited. However, there is a great scope to develop these industries for both internal consumption and export purposes.

Spices, nuts, and coconuts industry

In India, commercial crops like spices, water chestnut, beetle leaves, tobacco, coconut, aromatic and medicinal plants, etc. though produced in large quantities the post-harvest operation is highly energy-intensive.

Further, quality control through proper cleaning, grading, dehydrating, etc. is not very satisfactory. India is a leading producer of spices including black pepper, cardamom, chilies, etc.  At present, the production is about 3 MT of spices worth Rs 60,000 million out of which only 7% is exported. Therefore it is necessary to utilise modern technology to improve production as well as processing these items.

Export of coconut in 1996-97 from India, has earned foreign exchange worth Rs.1.72 billion. The coconut-based industries in India are in the infancy stage. There is a great scope to produce various coconut-based products like coconut milk and milk powder, coconut cream, coconut shell charcoal, etc. mainly for export purposes. Similarly, essential oils and other value-added products through the cultivation and processing of aromatic and medicinal plants have bright export potential. The export earnings could be increased by applying innovations in post-harvest technology for improving quality and productivity.

Paper industry

India, with its vast population and increasing literacy, needs large amounts of paper for various purposes including newsprint and writing papers. In addition, in recent years, there is an increasing demand for various types of papers like tissue paper, medical grade coated paper, tea bags, filler paper, etc.

Therefore, the country needs to produce large amounts of different grades of paper using various raw materials like bamboo, softwood, bagasse, etc. In India, the per capita consumption of paper is just 5 kg. per annum whereas, it is 337 kg. In North America, 110 kg. in Europe and 30 kg. in China. Indian paper industry is rated as the fifteenth largest in the world engaging about 1.5 million people with the help of about Rs.25,000/- crores government subsidy.

There are 515 manufacturing units engaged in the production of various types of paper with an annual capacity of 8.3 MT and it was planned to be increased to 60 MT by 2014. However, there are a number of problems for which the paper industry in India is not growing to fulfill the requirements in the country. Some of these are (i) dearth of good quality raw materials, along with their high cost (ii) Adoption of backdated technology for producing different type of paper (iii) Rising cost of transportation and power.  (iv) High import duty on pulp and waste paper, wood raw materials, etc (v) Lack of efforts for quality improvement and control and (vi) Unsatisfactory rehabilitation packages for a large number of small-scale paper manufacturing units.

In view of this, it is necessary for the government to take immediate steps to solve these problems through the large-scale plantation of bamboo, softwood, etc., facilitating the import of pulp and waste paper, developing better technology, infrastructure, and skilled manpower. The paper industries should come up in a big way, as per capita consumption of paper is a measure of our civilization and socio-economic development.

The Indian Paper Mill Association (IPMA) has suggested our government have a Paper Fund of about Rs.20,000 crores to assist the paper industry in various ways. In addition, IMPA has to update the technology in the paper industry to improve energy consumption and achieve quality control. To supply sufficient raw materials, the waste and degraded land should be utilised for undertaking the plantation of bamboo and other softwood generating tree spices. In this regard, the state government should extend all facilities and incentives. The government should also encourage for development paper industry which is based on waste paper as the raw materials.

Jute and cotton-based industry

Cotton-based agro-industries in India have not made the expected impact on our socio-economic developments. The traditional cotton textile industry could not make much impact compared to the modern units with high-speed spinning, weaving, and surface finishing technology.

Swadeshi, khadi, and the village industries commission have been assisting small-scale industries in India. However, these small-scale cotton industries very often face labour and technology problems. In view of this, it is suggested that the government should provide modern technology and incentives to cotton textile-based small and medium scale industries. In addition to this, a number of agro-industries based on wastes and bi-products of cotton plants should also come up. The stalks of cotton plants can be utilised to produce paper and pulp particle boards and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). Cotton willow dust can be used for the production of biogas and cotton waste can be used for mushroom productions.

Jute is produced mostly in the eastern part of India. The jute-based products are highly labour intensive which are mostly located in the eastern part of India. Mini jute carding and spinning mills have been developed in the country. For each tone of jute, two to three tons of jute stick are produced. These sticks are generally used as fuelwood. However, there is a great scope to utilize these sticks for producing value-added excellent particles board.

At present, most of the agro-industries in India are using back-dated technology and as a result, the production cost is high and the quality of products is inferior to the international standard. Therefore, most agro-industries are required to adopt better technology and streamlining man and materials management. In this way, the production should be economised with better quality control. This would go a long way to have agro industry products with better demand in the country as well as in the international market.