Vaibhav Tidke and Shital Kasat won Rs 35 lakh for their invention. They plan to set up a firm with the money
A city-based duo has bagged the top prize at an innovation convention in the US for inventing a solar conduction dryer which will help farmers save upto half of their produce from going to waste by converting it to its dried form.
Vaibhav Tidke, 26, a doctoral student, and Shital Somani Kasat, 26, a research associate affiliated with the Institute of Chemical Studies (ICS) in Matunga, won a cash prize of Rs 35 lakh at the Dell Social Innovation Challenge held at the University of Texas in Austin earlier this month.
Vaibhav's idea of the solar dryer was inspired by his professor's project which involved an electrical conduction dryer. That was when Vaibhav and his team started on the task of figuring out how it would work, while Shital worked on the marketing bit. "Most of our team members had farmers in their families who lose a lot of money every season due to produce getting spoilt before it reached the market. There is a need to preserve crops for at least a year. This will help farmers sell the dried product at double the cost and get hundred percent monetary return," said Vaibhav.
The current model of the conduction dryer has a capacity of about 12 kilograms. It can dry various fruits, vegetables as well as fish, while retaining colour, aroma and essential nutrients.
While fruits and vegetables take about 6-8 hours, fish takes up to 11 hours to dry. The added benefit is that unlike electrical dryers available in the market, their invention does not require a power source and has 25 per cent higher efficiency. The produce from the dryer can be rehydrated or used in dried form.
Along with their project winning first prize, of the five finalists, Shital also won the People's Choice award and $1,000 for a minute-long presentation of their product to the audience.
"We were given 90 seconds to give a speech about our respective projects. We wrapped up in under 60 seconds and still won the award," said Shital.
Price and distribution
The team is now working on the distribution part. Priced at Rs 12,000, the equipment takes about a week to make, transport and assemble.
However, the team is working on making the product more affordable.
"Farmers can form a society and pool in money to buy the dryer. But we are working on microfinance options and government subsidies to make it affordable and bring it to the global platform," said Shital. Future plans also include setting up a company with the cash prize that was awarded to them.
Pilot projects
Shital, a Fort resident and former dentist, has now put in all her efforts into marketing the product. "I have been handling the commercialization of the technology and marketing of the product," she said. Apart from installing pilot projects in Vile Parle and Sawantwadi near Goa, their team has received about 8 orders from Aurangabad. The Grameen Bank as well as companies from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh have expressed interest in their product.
THE SUNNY SIDE
The current model of the solar conduction dryer has a capacity of about 12 kilograms.
It can dry various fruits, vegetables as well as fish, while retaining colour, aroma and essential nutrients.
While fruits and vegetables take about 6-8 hours, fish takes up to 11 hours to dry.
Unlike electrical dryers available in the market, this product does not require a power source and has 25 per cent higher efficiency.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/City-duos-solar-dryer-for-farmers-wins-Dell-award/articleshow/20237638.cms
Ravi
No comments:
Post a Comment