BRIGHT BULBS
ROHIT PATEL 24 FARMER/ INNOVATOR, DEDLA, MP
Born into a family of farmers, Rohit Patel’s transition from student to farmer was seamless. Not so the reality that farming wasn’t much of a money spinner. Onion was the family’s main winter crop at their 20 acre farm in Dedla village of Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh, and Rohit realised the farmer wasn’t making any money because all the profits went to the middlemen. Farmers were at a disadvantage as they couldn’t hold on to the stock till prices appreciated. Rohit realised that onion prices fluctuated from Rs 1 per kg at the time of harvest to Rs 30-40 per kg just after the monsoons. What came in the way of capitalising on this increase—and this was true for other farmers as well—was that they lacked storage facilities to hold on to the stock.
The method of storing onions is different from that of other crops as it is based on refrigeration which is not only technology intensive but also involves regular outflows in the form of electricity bills and maintenance. Initially, Rohit made a drum using wires and stored onions in it. The losses came down but were still about 20 per cent. Finally, it was conventional wisdom that came to Rohit’s rescue. “I remembered what my grandfather used to say about storing onions. He would say that onions need to be aired, and that a rotten onion should be removed from the heap immediately, else it will damage the whole stock,” he says. Based on this conventional wisdom, Rohit designed a low-cost technology option for onion storage.
The simple arrangement required Rohit to place an iron mesh at about an elevation of one foot from the ground. Discarded drums are piled up with a powerful exhaust fan attached at the top. Once the fan is switched on, the air flows through the drums and spreads in the entire room, airing the onions in the process.
The fan needs to be on for about 5-6 hours at night in the summers and for the same duration in the day during winters. The technology helped Rohit reduce his damages to 5 per cent, down from the 30 per cent when he placed the stock directly on the floor. The cost of installing the technology and keeping it running in a 10x10 feet room in which up to 6 tonnes of onion can be stored: Rs 5,000. The electricity bill is usually Rs 600-700 per month.
Even though he comes from a generation of farmers, Rohit has now got into trading in agri commodities at the Choitram mandi in Indore. “There is very little money to be made in farming. The cost of production of onions is about Rs 6 per kg. If you don’t get a good price, it’s a loss-making profession. Trading is a better option,” he says.
“Rohit’s first model to store onions was adopted by many of our farmers. I got 300 per cent more for my crop by storing it and selling it in the off-season” Ranjit Singh Sisodia, Farmer in Dedla