Veggie grading based on colour code starts in Kartarpur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 1

A grading line that works on colour coding of vegetables for sorting vegetables of different colours; a hydroponic unit with lettuce, cabbage, strawberries, parsley and cherry tomatoes; and a plant health clinic laboratory for diagnosis of crop diseases — all three hi-tech mechanisms have been set up and put to use at Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Kartarpur near here.

Inaugurating the new systems at the project being run in collaboration with Israel, Food Processing Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra gave a call to farmers to adopt organic farming with a focus to make them fit for export purposes. He said the use of such new advancements in horticulture was the answer to the glut of vegetables and fall of prices as in potatoes and cauliflower that is taking place now.

The centre has allocated Rs 65 lakh for grading line, Rs 50 lakh for hydroponic system and Rs 18.62 lakh for the plant health clinic laboratory.

Horticulture Department Director Shailender Kaur said, “It is for the first time that a grading line for vegetables that works on colour coding has been launched in a government set up.” She added, “We will offer the services of using grading line to the vegetable farmers at minimal costs.

At the hydroponic unit, Assistant Director Dr. Daljeet Singh Gill showed the cultivation of various leafy vegetables in towers, flat beds, deep water system, drip irrigation and other modules. He said the one-time cost of a tower with all set up is Rs 12,000 on which 48 plants could be grown. For flat bed, it is Rs 4000 per sq m. Shailender Kaur added, “This system can be set up even if farmers have no land. They can install it all on the rooftop of their 1.25 kanal house and earn upto Rs 40 lakh per annum.

The only issues in hydroponics is the precision, check on water quality, pH, etc., and hygiene. “Now since we have set it up, we will work on recommendations to be given to the farmers. So far our observation is that we can get as many as 7-8 crops a year from this system as the rate of growth of crops is very high”, said Dr Gill.

System to ensure better prices

Horticulture Department Director Shailender Kaur said ideal colour code will be set for a vegetable with specifications of shape, size and weight. When we will load the vegetable, the most idle one will go in collection point for grade A and the rest in B or C. Accordingly, we can package, mark the grading and sell them in the market to get a better price for grade A veggies. If the prevailing rates of the vegetables are low, we can even store them in an existing storage.

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