The Thottiyam Banana Growers’ Group has started using its solar dryer for producing value-added products of vegetables, horticultural crops and greens.
The company had installed the solar dryer originally for producing value-added banana products, particularly banana chocolates and banana powder.
The company now supplies dried tomato, coriander and bitter gourd and even exports some quantity. The process of drying helps lengthen the shelf life of the vegetables. “There has been a growing demand for the quality and value-added horticultural crops and we have been marketing the same to a number of foreign countries particularly Dubai and Gulf countries,” says Manikutti Subramanian, Managing Director of the Group.
Dheenadhayalan, working partner, said that what started on an experimental basis with banana has given a new dimension to the company. The company was marketing these products through an agent. “We do not have license or permit for exporting these products to foreign countries and we rely on the agent,” he said.
Mr. Manikutti Subramanian said that the solar drying of the horticultural crops is adopted when prices of vegetables are less. "For example, when the price of tomato is less, we make a bulk purchase of the produce and dry it,” he said. The dried produce is sold when the price appreciates.
“In fact a large number of hotel owners and restaurant managers rely on us to when prices of the vegetables shoots up,” he said.
