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CSIR discloses non-destructive method of mango testing |
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The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has discovered a non-destructive technique for sorting mangoes in Chennai.
The launch started at a two-day awareness workshop conducted by the Central Electronics and Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), an arm of the CSIR. The awareness workshop is a CSIR project to reach out to industry representatives and to use its research to develop real world applications thus benefiting society.
The technique uses soft X-ray imaging and similar to airport security scan systems. Export quality Alphonso mangoes are afflicted with two types of physiological conditions called spongy tissue and seed weevil. Certain countries had banned Indian mangoes primarily because of this.
R Govindaraj, the project head, CEERI stated, "The X-ray imaging technology helps segregate the mangoes with deformities by processing the internal density of the fruit and thus will provide a fillip to the export industry."
India is the largest producer of mangoes in the world. The current Indian export market is 50,000 tonnes a year and the estimated worth is Rs 125 crore.
Vijay Mehta, vice-chancellor of Dr Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth stated, "America and Japan had banned imports of Indian mangoes citing quality control. The ban has recently been lifted. There is huge potential for expanding the export market. The technology can be used even in the local market and will benefit the consumers a lot."
The workshop was attended by professionals from diverse fields such as horticulture, electronics and instrumentation and marketing experts together.
Chandra Shekhar, director of CEERI said, "Till around1990, Indian research institutions existed in isolation and there used to be no end-user participation. In foreign countries, industries have their own R&D wing and hence can scale up technology and increase productivity. But in India that is not the case. So central research institutions have to find a way to showcase their work and interact with industry."
During the workshop, industry representatives were encouraged to approach CSIR with their problems. A collaborative model where industry shares a part of the research cost has been evolved.
Nagesh Iyer, co-ordinating director of CSIR said, "Industry should also take the cue. Tomorrow this opportunity might go to someone else."
Each mango sorting unit costs around Rs 30 lakh and the probable cost of processing each mango is 12 paise. But efforts are being made to bring per unit cost to below 5 paise.
Dr Chandra Shekhar added, "The business model is based on the fact that increased processing cost would be offset by access to a wider market and better pricing because of adherence to quality."
(Posted on : 13/06/2009)
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| CSIR discloses non-destructive method of mango testing |
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