Solar dryers to relieve woes of Kurnool onion farmers
A woman beneficiary processing onions at Thadakanapalle.
KURNOOL: The Kurnool administration is providing a “solar solution” to farmers towards addressing the problem of excess moisture content in the onion and tomato produced in the district.
Officials are promoting the use of home-based solar drying equipment at Thadakanapalle village in Kallur mandal. Women groups are being encouraged to do the drying of the onion and tomato stocks in a hygienic manner.
“The onions cultivated here have excess moisture content. This is preventing farmers from storing or transporting them to other places. Onion harvesting season in the region is from August to March,” officials said.
Onion is grown in an area of 44,600 hectares in Andhra Pradesh with a productivity of 16.2 tonnes per hectare, against the national productivity of 18.64 t/ha. Kurnool district is leading in its area and quantity of production in the state, with an average productivity of 16 t/ha. Agriculture officials say farmers in Kurnool district are growing traditional varieties in Kharif season due to lack of awareness about high-yielding varieties. As a result, they are getting poor yields.
To solve the farmers’ problem in the storage and transport of onion stocks, officials supported them with a provision for purchase of home-based solar dryers on loan with subsidy.
“We have provided loans for 25 units with Rs 1 lakh each with a 35 per cent subsidy initially. We are also considering requests for work sheds that cost around Rs 1.80 lakh,” said B Umadevi, project director of AP micro irrigation project. The beneficiary contribution is 10 per cent of the loan amount,” she said.
The Kurnool market yard receives huge stocks of onions from various parts of Kurnool, Nandyal, Anantapuram and some parts of Telangana.
“We receive around 5,000 quintals of onions per day and the MSP is Rs 670 per quintal. The average price this year has been between Rs 300 and 870 per quintal. This year, apart from the problem of moisture content, some viruses have affected the crop and farmers faced trouble for storage and transport to other places. They could rely on the local market only in such conditions,” said K Govind, selection grade secretary of Kurnool Market Yard.
Solar dryers are useful for fruit and vegetables, onion, garlic, tomato, ginger, tamarind etc. This is a source of renewable energy and helps in drying food items hygienically. The dryers remove unnecessary moisture from the product while retaining the original colour and taste.
Each solar dryer has a capacity to handle 250 kg of onions per day. Now, these units require a minimum of 6,250kg per day.
Umadevi said farmers can apply the same technique for tomatoes too. “We have already provided marketing tie-up to farmers to purchase the solar units from the top sellers in the state. The beneficiaries are being provided product diversification techniques for long-long-term sustainability,” she added.
