Agro Processing

AGRO PROCESSING

Types of activities came under the category of “agricultural processing”. 3. Co-operatives sugar factories 5. Co-operatives rice mills. 7. Co-operative spinning mills. 9. Co-operative grinning and pressing factory. 11. Khandsari sugar. 13. Jaggary(Gul) 15. Tadgur and related other products. 17. Co-operative oil mills. 19. Ancillary units like: Bakery products, spices, pickles, jam,and jellies, syrups and food products, dal mills, flour mills etc.

FOOD PROCESSING: To give importance to the development of food processing industries in the country, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries was set up in July1988. This ministry was made a department and brought under the ministry of Agriculture. In the era of economic liberalisation, the Department acts as a catalyst for bringing in greater investment in the sector, encouraging exports and creating a conductive environment for healthy growth of Food Processing Industry. The consumer food industry mainly consist of ready to eat or ready to cook products Like cocoa based products, soft drinks, biscuits, pasta products, bakery products etc. All India Bakery is the largest of processed food industries. The two major bakery Industries are bread and biscuits, which account for 82% of total bakery products.

The annual production of bakery products is estimated to be in excess of 30-lakhs tonnes. Production of bread and biscuits in India is estimated to be around 15 lakhs tonnes in organised sector and 11 lakhs tonnes in unorganised sector. Another wheatbased product known as pasta product such as Vermicelli, macroni, noodles are gaining popularity. Nearly 20 units are engaged in manufacturing of cocoa products like Chocolates, cocoa base malted milk products with production of 3400 tonnes appx. Production of soft drinks has increased from 5670mill bottles in 1999 to 6320 mill bottles in 2000.

The department of food processing industries administers the fruit product order (FPO) 1995. The order aims at regulating sanitary and hygienic conditions in manufacturing of fruit products. To ensure good quality products manufactured under hygienic conditions, FPO order lays down the minimum requirement for: 1.Santary and hygienic conditions of premises, surrounding and personnel 2. Water to be used for processing. 3. Machinery and equipment 4. Product Standards The problems of Processing co-operative Societies are: 1.Faulty Price Policy 2.More percentages of societies in loss 3.Domination of private traders. 4.More period for establishment 5.Scarcity of managerial personnel 6.Shortage of working capital 7.Fluctuation in prices

REMEDIAL MEASURES: 3. Need for primary planning 5. Right size 7. Regular supply of raw materials 9. Availability of technical knowledge 11. Appointment of trained staff 13. Government Assistance

CO-OPERATIVE SUGAR FACTORIES: OBJECTIVES: 1.To cut the sugarcane of members as well as of the non-members in the area of operation of the factory. 2.To encourage the members to use the modern techniques, improved variety of sugarcane and modern methods of agricultural production. 3.To encourage the members for self-help, self-dependence, thrift and to extend co-operation amongst the members and to the sugar factory. 4.To purchase agricultural land and cultivate sugarcane of the best variety to supply better seedlings to the members. 5. To understand educational, social, cultural and health activities for the members and Public in general.

CO-OPERATIVE SUGAR FACTORIES IN MAHARASHTRA: The Pravara co-operative sugar factory, set up in1950-51 in ShriRampur Taluka of Ahmed Nagar District of M.S., was an outstanding success and inspired other sugarcane growers and also M.S. Govt. to set up similar sugar factories in the state under Co-operative ownership. The Govt. of India also adopted a policy of encouraging cooperative sugar factories by giving preferential treatment to them over private and joint stock factories, while issuing licenses. M.S. state Government assisted the co-operative sugar factories by contributing to their share capital, but no other subsidies or privileges were granted to them. D.R. Gadgil and V.L. Mehta, played an important role in assisting and guiding the co-operative sugar factories in state. Like “Anand pattern” Dairy Co-operatives of Gujrat, Co-operative sugar factories of M.S. are also Considered successful as instruments of rural development.

Now, it has been widely recognized that co-operative sugar factories in M.S. have made significant contributions to the regional economic development of the areas around them .They have initiated several growth oriented welfare schemes, which has benefited not only the members but the region also. A sugar factory, helps in promoting various economic activities in the rural areas apart from generating direct and indirect employment. It also enhances transport and communication links with urban centres. provide medical and educational help to rural people in the area of operation of co-op sugar factory. It also helps in generating various ancillary activities for the local farming population.

In M.S., a small amount from the earnings of the sugar-grower members is kept side every year for taking up ancillary activities such as modern poultry, irrigation, credit banks etc. Also, many sugar co-op in M.S., opened school/colleges in their areas for providing technical higher education. Many co-op sugar factories have hospitals with modern techniques and equipments and provide medical facilities to the adjoining villages. Some of them has also undertaken, several lift irrigation schemes for the benefit of farmers. In M.S., Pravara,Warna,Akaluj,Rethare, Sangli and Sukarale have established their own educational centres.

They have contributed significantly to the creation of basic infrastructure facilities in their own areas. The factories have undertaken several schemes such as distribution of improved varieties of seeds, supply of chemical fertilizers, subsidy for cane plantation research information, soil testing technical guidance and so on. They have established consumers co-op stores in rural areas as Warna Bazaar, Vasant Bazaar, Ajinkya Bazaar etc.The dynamic progressive leadership of M.S. in general and Kolhapur region in particular has always worked as a model for others. The sugar industry has immense potentiality for diversification by using its by- products. Shri Warna co-op sugar factory of Warnanagar (M.S.) have done well. This factory has established not only distillery and paper plants but also promoted poultry and dairy. They have established Warna Co-op Bank,Warna Bhagini Mandal for women, fruits and vegetables processing units, Talim mandal for youth etc.

PROBLEMS OF SUGAR CO-OPERATIVES: 1.Weak share capital base 2. Unhappy Consumers 3.Audit problems 4. Problems of under utilisation of sugar units 5.No profitable use of bye product 6. Neglected Cane Cutters and workers. 7.No return to state Exchequer 8.Keen competition over leadership. 9. Corruption in top management. 10. De-zoning

CO-OPERATIVE RICE MILLS: Peddy is the agricultural produce coming out of the farm. It cannot be consumed as it is. It is required to be husked and converted in to rice for bringing it in to consumable condition.Therefore rice-mills are found in the paddy growing area. The objectives are as follows: 1.To husk the paddy of members and non-members. 2.To collect levy rice as per the government directives. 3.To sell the husk to the dairy co-operatives, poultries or others. Problems of paddy mills are: 1.Lack of adequate capital, and margin money funds. 2.There is no technical guidance. 3.No sufficient godown capacity. 4.Delay in getting milling equipments and transportation difficulties to states like Bihar, Assam etc. 5.Poor grading and lack of adequate quality control and unhealthy competition from the poor traders. 6. Untrained manager and poor management.

PADDY PROCESSING IN INDIA (THE TECHNICAL BACKGROUND): It is well known that paddy milling is one of the largest industries of India. Between 50 and 60 million tonnes of paddy is processed annually by one method or the other. Paddy consists of 20% husk, 6% bran and 72% of endosperm. The processing of paddy Involves drying, cleaning, parboiling in certain areas), husking, polishing, separating and grading. Paddy is normally harvested at 16 to 18% moisture and reduce to 14% for safe keeping and milling. In India the paddy is mostly sun dried. Mechanical drying came to be introduced only in 1965 when the first six modern units were setup in co-op sector. The sun drying of paddy is cheap and quick, but the loses in open yard drying from birds and rodents, sub checking etc. are sizeable. It has been estimated that 15% of the total paddy milled is lost in this way. Mechanical drying helps to reduce the moisture content to the desired level. This process iscostly(About Rs. 1.2 per quintal) . However it reduces the field losses and increases the quantity harvested up to 12%.It also facilitates drying in wet weather. But adoption of this process by both farmers and millers in this country has been slow due to lack of knowledge and familiarity with the equipment, as also due to relatively high cost. About 50% of the Indian paddy is parboiled . It reduces breakage in milling, improves shortage life and helps to preserve the vitamins and protein contents of the grain. The most common method of processing paddy however today is by hand pounding. About 44% of India’s paddy is processed bi this method as it has the lowest cost when Family labour is employed and can be done in interior unelectrified areas. But when hired Labour is used, it costs more.

Although The cost of parboiling and mechanical drying is estimated at Rs.2 to 2.5 per quintal. The output is often more than offsets parboiling costs, therefore it can be sold at cheaper Rate. The estimated cost of processing a ton of paddy by hand pounding is Rs.40 to 50 rice mills. The husk and bran are removed in one operation and the rice can be polished by second or third pass through the machine. The hullers were introduced around1920 and They number about 50000.Their avg. milling capacity is 2 tonnes per 8hour a day. They mill appox. 30% of paddy in India. Their main advantage is low cost of equipment about 7000/- Rs and therefore they continue to service for a long time to come. With technological developments, more sheller type and modern rice mills are being setup to get a higher rice out-put, high by-product recovery at milling costs. Sheller mills are quite popular in India and are about 8000 in number. They mill about 25% of the paddy crop.They Were first designed 20 to 30 years back and therefore need to be modernized for gettinghigher output to rice, bran and germ for getting oil extracted from these by-product.

The Rubber roller-shellers are the latest innovation in rice milling. They minimizes grain breakage. The output increased from 65% to 72% and the broken grain percentage is reduced. They were adopted in India in 1965.The present modernized unit incorporates . In addition, separate mechanical drying equipments, storage silos, modern parboiling system, precleaners, mechanical handling, paddy separators polishers and grain separating and grading equipment. Rubber roller shellers are the main part of improvement while other features are meant to reduce handling costs, storage losses, rice breakage and increases output of quality bran while providing rice of a uniform grade and polish.

CO-OPERATIVE SPINNING MILL The co-operative spinning mills have made progress in Maharashtra in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Ichalkaranji. The spinning mills co-operatives are organized by cotton growers, weavers and power loom-owners, to prepare cotton thread. This activity also helps to increase demand for cotton which is cash crop and thus beneficial to the cotton growing farmer also. NCDC gives finance, to encourage the cotton growers to organize the co-operative spinning mill under centrally sponsored scheme. a.5% of the total project cost is to be raised by spinning mill by way of share capital from members. b.20% is given by state government. c.55% is given by NCDC. d.20% is to be raised from financial institutions like IDBI or IFCI. The All India Federation of Co-operative Spinning Mills is organised with following objectives: 17. Helping in the preparation of project report. 18. Technical guidance for the purchase of new machinery or modernisation of old machinery. 3.To guide the management of the spinning mill. 4.To help the spinning mills in the formulation of purchase and sale policy. 5.To guide the spinning mill in getting financial accommodation and help them in preparing documents for loans.

YARN REQUIREMENT OF HANDLOOMS AND THE ROLE OF CO-OP SPINNING MILL

Due to depressed conditions noticed in the handloom sector, rendering a large section of population economically weak, the New Economic program launched in 1975 and the need for central plan call for vigorous efforts for the reorganization and revitalization of handloom industry on sound lines. Ad-hoc policy making and defective implementation of policies have been mainly responsible for democracy and depression of the important segment of decentralized textile sector. In 1974 there were around 36 lakh handlooms in the country and 38 lakhs during 1976.As traditional weavers are located in different parts of the country, it is difficult to place the figu of the Handlooms at an exact level. Therefore, suggestions have been made from time to To conduct census of handlooms, so that policies pertaining to planning, development, assistance etc. can be formulated clearly and enforced properly to achieve the expected re

About 53% of co-operative sectors are there by1983.Yet qualitatively, the majority of co-operatives have remained non-viable. The basic reason for weakness of handloom units isLack of rationalized institutional structure. The inability to cover the total requiremen of Handloom weaver, particularly those pertaining to steady supply of raw materials at reasonable cost, finance and marketing has contributed to their decline. An integrated co-operative structure, covering these requirements right from the stage of raw material to the finished product can go long way in providing stability to the handloom textile industry.

CO-OPERATIVE GINNING AND PRESSING FACTORIES: Cotton can be pressed in to bales and can be packed to keep it clean by taking out the cotton seeds. With the reduction in volume, transport cost will be reduced and the cotton Bales will be demanded as raw material from co-operative spinning mill. The cotton seeds are supplied to the oil mill which bring down the price of cotton. In M.S. there is cotton procurement scheme and the cotton growers have to give their Cotton to the centres. If the cotton growers come together and form a ginning and pressing factory and if this Factory enters in to the agreement with the co-operative spinning mills for the supply of Cotton then in that case every one will benefit. The agriculturist will get good payment for their cotton, the ginning and pressing factory Will get sufficient business and the co-operative spinning mill can get the raw material Easily. By creating an agreement with the weavers co-operatives societies and Power loom societies, cotton thread can be supplied by the spinning mill. NCDC helps the installation of co-operative ginning and pressing factory. KHANDSARI SUGAR INDUSTRY: It is raw sugar and has little demand. This industry is not seen in the co-operative sector. This industry is sponsored by Khadi Gramudyog Mandal. Some private people have Started such type of units in sugarcane areas. The Khadi Gramudyog Mandal at the Goregaon Training Centre gives training in the production of Khandsari.

JAGGARY PRODUCTION: Sugar factories are not allowed to prepare jaggary as ancillary, or additional activity. Jaggary production is generally taken up individually on commercial basis and not on Co-operative basis. The Agriculture Produce Market Committees and co-operative Purchase and sale union do sell the jaggary prepared by private persons. TADGUL AND OTHER RELATIVE PRODUCTS: Tadgul and Nira are prepared from the palm tree. Neera is very commonly collected and Sold. But it is an individual business. It has got the patronage of KVIC. Neera co-operatives can be formed as poor people have demand for it.Tadgul is cheaper but It is said to be in toxic. CO-OPERATIVE OIL SEEDS UNITS: Problems faced by oil-seed co-op units are: 1. Disparities in prices of oil and oilcakes. 2.Prblem of plant shutdown. 3.Fluctuations in price of groundnuts. 4.Under utilization of installed capacity. 5.Paucity of working capital. 6.No proper system of procurement of oil seeds