23 Nov Fruit Ripening and it’s advantages

Fruits and vegetables are harvested throughout India during different times of the year. India has a varied climate which helps in growing a plethora of fruits in various terrains. Summers are for mangoes while winters are for strawberries and apples and monsoons, for sapotas. Fruits like bananas grow in abundance throughout the year.

The post-harvest infrastructure of India is still at a nascent stage with very sporadic development in certain pockets of the country. Majority of the fruits get spoilt while bringing from farm to mandis. The traders buy the raw fruit from farmers at a very low price and then sell the ripened fruit at a very high price sometimes more than double the cost. This results in farmers being squeezed out of every hard-earned penny.

There are various manual methods used at farm level to ripen fruits like putting in paper bags or putting out in sun but due to the sheer output quantity, such methods are not feasible. A standardised process is required which does not cause any rotting or spoilage due to open storage. These are government approved processes and are completely safe to use.

To avoid this, there is a process called mechanical fruit ripening. It involves the usage of ethylene gas which initiates and coordinates various biological processes for ripening. The main fruits used in India for mechanical ripening are mango, chickoo(sapota) and banana.

There is a five day cycle involved in ripening. The major steps involved are

• Loading into fruit ripening chambers – Raw material is first loaded into the ripening chamber.
• Temperature, RH and air circulation is controlled and maintained here.
• The fruits are given specific dosages of ethylene gas at desired intervals while maintaining CO2 levels.
• Dosage of ethylene gas is controlled by Double stage gas regulators and solenoid valves
• After 5^th day, product is removed.

Advantages

This process helps greatly reduce the ripening time of fruits and when installed at farm level, is highly beneficial for farmers. Farmers can earn a higher margin while selling their ripened products instead of raw. Installing this ripening room also helps in reducing wastage and spoilage at the farm level.

Summary

Fruit ripening rooms should be installed in all fruit growing regions of the country to reduce the post harvest losses and for greater financial benefit.