Agri officials demonstrate a tomato pulp making machine at Dindigul Collectorate on Friday. | Photo Credit: KARTHIKEYAN G

A mobile tomato processing unit was stationed at the Dindigul Collectorate to raise awareness among farmers that despite fall in prices they can gain profit by giving a value-added product.

The unit worth ₹40 lakh was demonstrated to farmers in an aim to help those who were selling one 1 kilogram of tomatoes for as low as ₹2. These farmers have been affected as the market price of tomatoes have dropped due to increase in supply.

To prevent farmers from throwing their produce on the streets, crushing them or allowing them to rot in the farm because of lack of reasonable price, they can procure these processing unit and convert their yield into value-added products.

The mobile vehicle is fuelled by gas and is fully equipped with the latest technology which can be used on farms.

The unit has equipment such as a washer to clean the tomatoes, a blancher for deactivating enzymes, a pulper, a steam kettle and an autoclave to sterilize the fruits.

The stand-alone unit has an inbuilt power generation and processing area that houses machinery for processing, sterilization and packaging.

Through a steam engine setup on the vehicle, the fruits are boiled, pulp is extracted, waste is discarded, approved preservatives are added.

The fruits are converted and processed into a range of value-added products like pulp, sauce, jam, paste, puree and ketchup which can be sold at an average starting price of ₹40 per litre.

The unit can be used to convert not just tomatoes but also other fruits including perishable foods from which pulp can be extracted like mangoes, papayas and guavas when the prices fall.

A press statement said that 500 kilograms of tomato puree can be obtained from 1,000 kilograms of tomatoes. This machine can mash one ton of tomatoes per day.

Further, a farmer can make a profit of upto ₹6,000 to ₹9,000 per acre through this unit.

Depending on the value-added product, farmers will be able to fetch a better income, minimize their losses and increase the availability of value-added products to the needy at reasonable rates.

“Collector suggested that farmers in every block must be educated through Farmers Producers Groups and they should be tied up with corporate companies during times of rate fluctuations,” said X. Alex Isac, Assistant Director of Horticulture.

Tomatoes are cultivated in 5,500 acres in Dindigul district, especially in Vedasandur, Ayyalur and Oddanchatram, he added.

This was a pilot project of National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur, in 2019 and it was later implemented by Department of Agriculture Business and Marketing.

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Printable version | Mar 25, 2022 9:13:19 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/mobile-tomato-processing-unit-demonstrated/article65260121.ece