Palm Sugar & Palm Products an

Alternative

Presentation to Govt of Bihar

KVIC Seminar: 5th , 6th June 2016, PatnaBy

Arun Kumar PandeyChairman & Founder Trustee - PPRPF

3rd May 1939Brindawan, Bihar

Mahatma Gandhi’s inaugural speech…

Today…. 5th / 6th June 2016..after 77 years!!

We have gathered in ‘Bihar’ to discuss..…How to harness potential of ‘Neera’?? …

• During these years – world has progressed fast >> >>

• Today: Philippines, Indonesia, Malyasia, Thailand, Sri Lanka etc produce 10-15lakh tons ‘palm sugar’ per year!!

• Indonesia and the Philippines market palm sugar with Mahatma Gandhi as their brand ambassador with his words inscribed on the packets …

Khejur Taal

Non-Edible Palm Products

Problem??

Most Neera tapped today is allowed to become ‘Toddy’?

What is it that makes this ‘Toddy’ model so successful & accepted among farmers-consumers? …

Alcohol consumption (low/high) causes ‘cirrhosis’ of liver …

Neera Cures Liver Diseases“de-toxifies”

Even with medicinal/nutritional benefits of neera…it can’t shoot to lime-light immediately!!

Neera can be successful ‘only’ through Value addition…..

How? …

Mechanism in “Soda Hub”

water CO2 orange

cola

litchi

Flavours

‘Neera Hub’

• Replace water with Neera Concentrate + Water. Punch it with actual fruit juices or flavours. Thus creating a ‘healthier’ drink!!

• Neera Concentrate:– During season Neera is concentrated using Reverse

Osmosys (RO) and sterilized using UV– Concentrated (70%) form makes it more stable &

self preserving. Less weight to transport– The pure water extracted through RO is bottled and

sold as pure “Palm Water”. Eco-friendly!! …

Neera That Ferments?

• Convert / process it to vinegar• Palm vinegar is believed to have medicinal

properties• Also make:

– ‘Sawan’ vinegar– ‘Brown rice’ vinegar – These have international, local demand …

• Look at local market / customer preferences• Look at available farmer’s skill-set,

acceptable methods • Look at existing parallel/ similar industries

General Approach

• Khejur Gur: has local market• Taal Gur: out side market ( build local mkt)• Litchi industry is well established – borrow

technology, extend expertise from them

Existing Market Scenario

Starting & Moving ahead…

1) Using what we have?

Training & creating infrastructure / market to use existing palm resources to produce:

Palm Jaggery / Palm Sugar / Candy / othersNeera CateringPalm Fruit & derivatives ( Pulp, Squash, Jam etc )Leaf articlesCreating awareness/ market on ‘medicinal

properties’ of Palm Jaggery …

Using the Palmyrah Fruit:“ice apple”

• The ‘raw fruit’ canned in palm sugar syrup– learning from established ‘lichi industry’ in

Bihar. Export potential• The ripe fruit goes waste• The pulp can be extracted - processed –

freezed (retort packaging) and marketed in SE-Asia, India, others

• Can be used as a source for squash …

Infrastructure: Palm Sugar

• Palm Sugar Plant • Common facility center• Individual furnace/ boiling pan• Neera Catering unit …

Palms are ‘Fungible’

• Means every part of Palm is useful to farmer ( ‘Kalpavriksh’ ) of every level big/ marginal / landless

• Large farmers can plant more• Marginal can plant on boundaries• Landless can plant in home compound• Every member of the family gets work …

Improved Gud Making Set-up

Common Facility Center

2) Scaling by Plantation

• Planting Palms by scientifically choosing the right variety

• Right land index ( spacing )• Around fields, around houses/ in compound

– World Bank: living fence program• Care (water/manure/tilling) - faster maturity• Effective orchard floor utilization …

5th A.D to 1197 A.DNalanda

Site of Global Learning“Knowledge Creation”

Bihar was “Jagat guru”…

To bring about real development & change

We need “Knowledge Creation” through R&D, long term vision and dedicated focus from all levels on implementation …

3) Scaling by R&D

• Improving yield by selective hybridization• Genetic improvements & research• Protecting the improved varieties ( IPR )• Potential to reach enormous proportions of

sugar yield several times of sugar cane/ hectare

• Established sugar crop even in dry areas• Ex: oil palm industry in south-asia…

Yield ??

• Our target is to achieve 24.0 Tons of ‘refined sugar’ per hectare

• With small improvements/ inputs we can achieve 20.0 Tons / Hectare of ‘gur’ from a stand of 500-trees

• In current unimproved form we can get 9-18 tons of ‘gur’ per hectare

Extending R&D efforts

Hi-value agriculture with Palms at the center:• Sugar cane (improving)• Pulses• Fiber crops• Horticulture etc …

R&D Who / Where?

• Who?– Distinguished scientists of global repute– US / Japan / India– Various plant sc specializations in US

• Where?– Most research in USA– Implementation in India …

International Cooperation

Japan

Taiwan

SE-Asia

World-Bank

World-Bank FAO

Indo-US

Future Challenges

• 2050 with rising population

• Food production needs to ‘go up’ by 60%

• We will have further pressure from population rise in Bangladesh, neighbors

• Climate, rains will be unpredictable adding to the problem …

*Source FAO

World efforts

• Agriculture / Plant science will be very important in future amidst depleting global climate

• China has aquired Syngenta for 43$ Billion ( 4300 $ Crores = Rs. 2.795 Lakh Crores )

• Syngenta is world’s biggest agrochemicals/ crop protection company

• Its India business FY15 Rs. 2904.75 Cr ...

Importance of Research

• Given the global & future challenges– Research in plant science is must to meet our

requirements of Food, Fiber, Fuel, Feed– India: 50% population in agriculture. Still

import heavily: pulses, edible-oils– MNCs are siphoning money in the name of 2nd

green revolution• Marginal land holdings made profitable …

Avoid Mis-match

• Water thirst crops like sugarcane, rice, cotton must not be grown in water scares regions

• Drought tolerant crops like Palms, Millets can be grown both in dry, water deficient

• Mis-match must be avoid: it leads to disastrous consequences …

About us?

Palm Sugar & Palm Products Research & Promotion Foundation (PPRPF)

“Explaining the Logo”

“Farmers Welfare” “Plant Science Research”

“Eco-Friendly Sustainable Development”

Contact usOffice: 635, 7th Street, Sector-D, Anna Nagar West Extn, Chennai – 600 101Ph: 044 – 26155460 e-mail: info@pprpf.org URL: www.pprpf.org

Contact: 1. Arun Kumar Pandey, Chairman – PPRPF Mob: 09550305460 e-mail: arun@pprpf.org2. K. Mohan Raju, Secretary – PPRPF Mob: 08754551911 e-mail: kmohanraju@pprpf.org / kmrkvic@gmail.com

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Thank you!!