Workshop on value addition of chow chow organized by SIRD

Shillong, Aug 22: Aimed at empowering the economic status of local entrepreneurs and farmers, the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD), Government of Meghalaya, today conducted a one day workshop on Value Addition of Chow Chow (Piskot) at the SIRD, Nongsder, Ri Bhoi District. This initiative is the first of its kind to be experimented in the country.

The Deputy Director, SIRD, Mr. B. S. Rumnong while highlighting on the aims and salient features of the workshop, he said that this project will be a success if there is a commitment and collective responsibility of the community. He also explained about the business plan on how to market the product in various forms taken into consideration that chow chow has got the nutritive and medicinal value.

Dr. Manoj Mishra of EDI, Gujarat, in his presentation, explained about the strategy and possibilities of better market and also about the customized business plan through various organs such as community based organization, local entrepreneurs and producers.

It may be mentioned that in order to facilitate better income to the cultivators, the SIRD in collaboration with the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), India, have signed a MoU to implement Entrepreneurship Development Programmes which entails identifications of specific projects for the State, training of 10000 potential entrepreneurs in the next 3 years.

Chow-chow or piskot is one such vegetable crop that can be found in abundance in the State but the underutilized and under exploited of this crop has deeply impacted the farmers. Seeing the need of improving production and better marketing of this crop, the SIRD along with the EDI and Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship (MIE) are working on the promotion of Chow Chow or Sechium edule as a viable crop for economic development of the State. In this regard SIRD has identified the villages of Laitkseh and Marngor Clusters and a few villages situated in close vicinity of the Rural Technology and Livelihood Promotion Centre, Nongbah Myrdon to pilot the project. Samples of the fruit have been sent to the Anand Agricultural University and National Chemical Laboratory, Pune for testing the scope for value addition. Based on preliminary experiments, the juice is bland in taste and it can be blended with any other vegetable or fruit juice. Moreover, chow chow can be used for value added products such as bottled juice, squash, dried slices and sweetened candy and there is also an indication that it can be pickled or fermented.

Mr. Rumnong further informed that the Chow Chow Fest will be held on the 10th September, 2014 at All Saints’ Hall, Shillong where farmers and entrepreneurs can display the products which are being produced from Chow Chow. This will also be an opportunity for the farmers and entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and to find other innovative strategy on how to market their products in a better way.(SP News)

 

 

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