Krishi Vigyan Kendra Fatehgarh Sahib conducted five day training programme on preservation of Fruits and Vegetables from 5 to 9 February 2018. Dr. Harinder Singh Deputy Director (Training) Krishi Vigyan Kendra gave details about the training programme and emphasized that such training programmes are the need of the hour. Learning skill and applying it to earn a living and start an enterprise is important to enhance the income of the farmers and to make agriculture more profitable. The trainees were equipped with various techniques of preservation including pickles, jams, chutneys, and preserves by Dr. Manisha Bhatia Assistant Professor Home Science. Demonstration on preparation of papaya jam, mixed vegetable pickle, mushroom pickle, garlic pickle, haldi pickle, peas pickle, amla candy, chawanprash and tomato sauce were given to provide hands-on experience to the trainees in preparing these recipes.

The trainees can implement the skills learnt during the training at household level by preparing nutritious and healthy food at their home and ensure that their families are getting quality food free of preservatives and other chemicals. Importance of dehydrated foods and techniques of drying were also discussed at length. Green leafy vegetables which are not available in summers can be dried in solar dryer and stored for consumption in winters. The information about the use of various solar gadgets at the domestic level as well as commercial level was discussed by Dr. Sukhmeet Singh, Research Engineer, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, PAU Ludhiana. He discussed the importance of renewable energy when all the natural resources are getting exhausted day by day. He also shared that the expenditure on gas cylinder can be reduced by the use of solar cooker. The domestic and multipurpose dryers are efficient in drying the vegetables, haldi and other agricultural produce without the loss of natural colour. The products dried in solar dryers are also of better quality. He also discussed the use of solar gyser and net metering in details.