KAU Launches Mission to Develop Women-Friendly Technologies.
To encourage women entrepreneurship, the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) is on a special mission to develop women-friendly technologies.
To reap the benefit of commercially important technologies in the farm sector, the KAU's Centre for Gender Studies in Agriculture and Farm Entrepreneurship Development (CGSAFED) has taken up the mission of empowering women in agriculture and housewives.
The centre has identified potential women entrepreneurs through field surveys and case studies. Head of the CGSAFED, Dr. P.S. Geethakutty said, it has chosen women who have shown interest in business and are already engaged in small scale agri-business.
They are given counselling and guidance to motivate them. She said, they are also provided with important linkages of business houses, technical experts, markets, banks and techno incubators.
For beginners to introduce to them innovative technologies, the centre identifies the facilities that impart intensive skill-based training. It frequently invites experts for conducting face-to-face programmes with farmers and skill imparting sessions.
Dr. Geethakutty said, “We conducted a skill development training in collaboration with the Krishi Vignan Kendra (KVK) of Pathanamthitta recently on home-based preservation and commercial products of jack fruit.”
Dr. Shana Harshan, scientist of the KVK, who is the pioneering technologist in jackfruit processing, has come out with a low cost technology for processing and preserving jackfruit for year-round product development.
The CGSAFED, in collaboration with the Dairy Technology Department of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, had imparted value addition training for the Nature Fresh women dairy group of Alagappanagar, Thrissur.
Fruit and processing technology, mushroom cultivation, nursery management, flower arrangement and green leaf based product development are other value addition technologies women prefer to take up.
Source:http://www.thehindu.com/
