Gene campaign trains women farmers on value addition of local temperate fruits like apricot, peach, plum, pear and apple. These are made into juice, squash, jam and chutneys. The products are made under stringent quality control and the women recive training in maintaining hygiene standards. In Uttarakhand the men are usually laid back and do not come forward readily to work but we see some interest in men also to learn fruit processing since they see this as having commercial value. Jam , juice and squash are established products and men view these as products that will more easily translate into cash incomes.
At the start of the training, the importance of hygienic working conditions is emphasized, pointing out that if farmers were keen to market their products eventually, their products would have to pass the stringent quality tests demanded by the buyers. Failing to meet hygiene and quality standards could mean the black listing of their products.
The professional trainers point out that first grade fruit should be sold as table fruit for which a good price can be got even if they sell through aggregators who sell further. However the smaller or damaged second and third grade fruit should be processed into jam, juice, squash since the value added products would fetch a better price than the fresh fruit even after adding processing costs.
After the training programs participants and trainers taste the products they have made and discuss its merits as also ways to make variations. They share the jams and squashes between themselves and take them home for their families. Almost all the participants say they would be making their own jam and squash at home since many families have fruit trees and those that don’t can easily get fruits from neighbors in the same or nearby villages
Gene Campaign is helping to create marketing linkages and provide spaces where these products can be sold. The E Shop on this website is soon going to be live and this will be a space where the fruit products can be bought
