Seasonal Nutritional Food Security to Indian Women through Community-level Implementation of Domestic Solar Conduction Dryer

ABSTRACT

This study explores the impact of a house-hold, post-harvest processing unit on the nutritional, economic, and social status of rural women. Solar Conduction Dryer (SCD) is an electricity-free, solar-powered food dehydrator for the production of dried vegetables, fruits, marine, and meat-based products. SCD was provided to 200 rural women farmers in the Aurangabad district of India. The availability of the dryer enabled the women to preserve seasonal produce during the surplus season and consume it during the lean period. An increase of 36% in the Women’s Dietary Diversity Score was observed in the intervention group as compared to the control group in the lean season, indicating increased food accessibility and availability. Providing the appropriate market linkage and initial hand-holding helped the women to earn additional income through the sale of the dehydrated products. This research explores the sustainability of the said technological intervention and its role in agri-nutrition linkage.

KEYWORDS:

• Food security
• dietary diversity
• agri-nutrition linkage
• post-harvest processing
• solar conduction dryer

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), USAID, BIRAC and Department of Biotechnology (DBT, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India) who provided the funding for this research under the aegis of Grand Challenges India. We are grateful to Dr. Richa Godbole (Consultant, S4S) and Dr. Bharati Kulkarni (Scientist, NIN) for their technical advice and training provided.

Declaration of Conflict of Interest

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and our ethical obligation as researchers, we are reporting that S4S Technologies has financial and business interest in the outcome of the research reported in the enclosed paper. Institute of Chemical Technology has received financial support from S4S Technologies to carry out studies on dehydration and quality of dehydrated products as a part of this project. The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by the funding agency. The authors have disclosed these interests fully to Taylor & Francis, and have in place an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from the financial and business interest.

Human rights statements and Informed Consent

Ethics Committee approval was obtained from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Medical Research Society’s Ethics Committee constituted in accordance with Indian GCP, ICH-GCP, and Schedule Y, and registered with DCGI with registration no. ECR/641/Inst/MH/2014. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded under ‘Grand Challenges India’ and jointly supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India) under Grant no. BIRAC/GCI/0046/01/13-AGN.This research was a result of the collaboration between Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT, Mumbai), Science for Society (S4S Technologies, Mumbai), Savitribai Phule Mahila Ekatma Samaj Mandal (SPMESM - the NGO wing of Dr. Hedgewar Rugnalaya, Aurangabad), and National Institute of Nutrition (Hyderabad);Grand Challenges India – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India) [BIRAC/GCI/0046/01/13-AGN];