A two-day bread exhibition inaugurated in the city on Saturday as part of the World Bread Day highlighted the need to protect agricultural land to protect our livelihood and future.
The exhibition, organized by Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association, (Maditssia) and the Madurai Bakers Association, was inaugurated by Madurai district collector L Subramanian on Saturday. The organisers said the exhibition was a move to create awareness among the public on the health benefits of adding bread in the daily diet. The exhibition is being held on October 17 and 18 at the Maditssia hall.
Many catering institutions came out with expressive exhibits. A ‘save agri’ model highlighted the need to prevent the conversion of agriculture lands into housing plots. Another model stressed the need to protect wild animals. Cooking competitions for homemakers are being held on Sunday. There is a special stall selling breads and snacks.
Exhibition chairman S Anburajan spoke about the importance of the World Bread Day. Maditssia president L Murari welcomed the audience. Earlier, new members of the Madurai Bakers Association, including president M Chakkaravarthy, secretary D Balaganesh and treasurer Ramasamy, assumed charge.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Madurai / TNN / October 18th, 2015
Popularly known in our old Tamil folklore as the ‘Tree that cures’ or as the ‘Tree that protects’, the Punnai tree’s population along our coastal and river belts has been dwindling in the last three decades owing to its rich timber value. But scientists have now begun repopulating this tree for its biofuel and healing properties.
Scientists have cloned certain varieties of the Punnai tree suitable for use as biofuel. (Getty Images photo)
The bio-fuel produced from Punnai tree can run a machine like a pumpset or even a generator, say researchers. Scientists with the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB) have managed to clone a few varieties of this tree, scientifically called as Calophyllum Inophyllum, rich in oilseeds, rather than timber.
“Not many people know that the oil extracted from the tree’s seeds can be used as a biofuel,” says the scientist who has been researching tree-borne oils for the past decade, Anandalakshmi Ravichandran. “It can be used to run pumpsets, generators and a lot of machinery that otherwise require petrol or diesel,” she says. A five-year-old well-looked Punnai tree can give a minimum of 4.2 litres of biofuel a year, or 2.1 litres per harvest.
“A tree older than five-years, which is watered well and fed bio-fertilizers, will produce at least 4-10 kg of oilseeds per harvest, which in turn produces 1kg to 2.5kg of kernel, from which oil can be extracted,” she added. Oilseeds from the tree can be harvested at least twice a year.
The tree, which is found in many parts of South India like the Andaman Islands, Kasargod, Sengottai, Cuddalore, Kutralam, Puducherry and Karaikal, unlike most can even survive on loose soil or sandy soil. “These trees are like mangroves and grow in the wild in the same conditions,” says Ravichandran, also the HOD of the seed technology department at IFGTB.
Scientists recommend that farmers choose the number of trees they want to cultivate based on their oil requirement. Around 35 trees can be planted in a one-acre land either on the perimeter or as intercrop. “These trees are natural wind shields, because they initially used to stop the salt carrying sea breeze from blowing into the agricultural lands,” says Ravichandran. The institute has sold 600 units of Punnai seedlings so far.
The drawbacks of growing or cultivating the tree is that it takes at least five to six years to mature, and start yielding fruits or oilseeds. “It will grow upto 15m in height and start producing even more than 10kg of fruits after its 10{+t}{+h} year,” she says. “Nobody realises this because they cut it down after it reaches its fifth year for timber, which is used to make catamarans and furniture,” she adds.
After a lot of research into Punnai trees in its natural habitats, scientists short-listed 156 genetically superior trees across Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andamans.
Seedlings of these varieties are on sale at the IFGTB nursery for Rs20
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / October 01st, 2015
Annadasan with his organic waste-to-energy converter
Chennai :
Three years ago Annadasan P was at a conference organised by the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) at Chennai. The event unveiled a slew of technological initiatives including those offering solutions to food-waste conversion. But as Annadasan recalls, they were all expensive and rather complicated solutions. Hailing from an agricultural area in Polur of Thiruvannamalai district, his insight into bio-waste management told him that these prototypes were lacking something. “They were not something a working man or woman have the time for. One had to manually mix the compost a dozen times a day,” says Annadasan.
Recently, Annadasan, was spotted manning a busy stall at the Global Investor’s Meet last week, flaunting his organic waste-to-energy converter- a fruit of 3 years of labour and research. The converter, a 10-litre capacity set-up produces up to 1 cubic output of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which can be tapped through a tube and used for cooking. That’s almost an hour of gas with your stove on high-flame for every half capacity of the drum.
“It is not run by any motors or batteries and is completely self-sufficient,” says Annadasan, who after months of saving water-drums and trying out new mixers, finished his product a few months ago.
What are the things that go into the converter? “Every kind of organic waste from food waste, leftovers, stock water to even animal wastes can be used in it. Cow dung is not favourable as it produces only 1 kilo methane for every 10 kilos of fuel, but the rest of them are compatible with the system,” he adds.
When City Express spoke to a couple of residents asking whether they will invest in one of these organic-converters, the replies were mostly bleak. “My biggest apprehension is the smell,” said Sureshkumar. Selvi V.S, a homemaker said, as she lives in a nuclear family, she does not see much use of an organic-converter in her household. “We can’t possibly load a machine with 6-7 kilos of waste everyday,” points out.
But Annadasan is ready with an answer for that as well. “During my two-and-half-years of research, I found the biggest problem was the maintenance of the set-up itself. Nobody has the time to be cleaning or checking. So with all these thoughts constantly running in my mind, I have designed this organic machine that has several mixers which will process the waste through a ‘water-jacket’ system that ensures that it doesn’t let out any kind of stench even after waste has accumulated in it for three to four days.
Currently a large amount of unsorted waste comes under organic matter. “We take inventories of food going waste, but at least 25-30 kilos of food is wasted during a single birthday party or wedding reception at a star-hotel,” says Ganesh*, who works at a prominent hotel in the city. A bulk of the food waste comes out of used plates. And though aimed at households, and smaller canteens these kind of products are also useful for industries.
Around 20 farmers among them would be selected and trained in organic farming periodically.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Amrutha Varshini / September 14th, 2015
K. Shanthi at her organic farm in Tirupur.- Photo: R. VIMAL KUMAR
Shanthi quit her lucrative job in the U.S. and returned to Tirupur a few years ago to start agriculture
K. Shanthi (34), who worked as a software engineer in the United States, decided she wanted to return to her roots and her agrarian background. “Even though I was working as a software engineer, in my heart I knew I would go back to agriculture, sooner than later, “ she said. She quit her lucrative job and returned to Tirupur a few years ago to start agriculture on a 12-acre land she inherited on the outskirts of the city.
Ms. Shanthi decided to go in for organic farming and inter-cropping in order to get maximum unit value realisation (UVR) from her land.
Presently, she is raising around 1,000 coconut trees and uses the space between them to grow vegetables and fruits such as bananas, sapota, mango and papaya.
“I am raising different varieties of coconut to have a sustainable return. The dwarf variety is mainly grown to be sold as tender coconut while the other varieties are grown to produce copra when the income from tender coconut diminishes after the summer”, explained Ms. Shanthi.
Ms. Shanthi is now planning to come out with value-added products from the agriculture produce from her land.
“I have joined a consortium of organic farmers and we hope we can market the value-added products effectively by identifying sustainable market linkages,” she said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Tamil Nadu / by R. Vimal Kumar / Tirupur – September 02nd, 2015
Talking about menstrual health is still considered a societal taboo. It’s no hidden fact that Indian society dislikes anything to do with matters of menstruation and particularly menstrual waste. So how do we deal with this staggering amount of sanitary waste generated every month? What are the technologies to handle it?
With feminine hygiene gaining importance over the past decade, affordable, but non-biodegradable, sanitary pads are within the reach of many. Women either wrap soiled pads in paper and throw them along with domestic garbage or flush them down or throw them in water bodies. This dismal state of sanitary waste management pushed IIT-M alumnus V Ramachandran into developing Reprocide, a wall-mounted sanitary napkin destroyer that will incinerate soiled pads with minimal release of smoke into the environment. And for his efforts he was given the CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Award- 2015 recently.
What makes Reprocide different from other incinerators is that it has a twin chamber with thermal insulation to burn pads – this allows marginal fumes to get emitted. The 51-year-old electronic engineer, who worked on the machine for over two decades, said, “Many destroyers in the market have a single chamber. So when you open the chamber after using it, the smoke hits your face. Reprocide has twin chambers. We also have a programmable timer, which allows the machine to automatically switch on and off after a set duration.”
The machine burns the pads with its electrical heating system within few minutes. The ash could either be used as manure for plants or can be flushed out. Ramachandran’s machine, which was developed through his company Glo Life Care, has already been installed in many government schools and private companies across south India.
Ramachandran, who had earlier developed a sanitary napkin vending machine, began toying with the idea of an incinerator after he noticed sanitary workers struggling to find a convenient way to dispose used pads. “The drain in our street was clogged and when corporation workers got to work, they found large amount of sanitary pads blocking it. That was when I thought I should find a solution,” he said.
Reprocide is not just compact but packs a number of features to save power. The entire system is packed compactly in a sheet metal box coated with anti-rust proof painting. Ramachandran has developed nano models measuring 12.5 inch x 12 inch that can burn five napkins at a time and jumbo models measuring 10 feet x 10 feet that can burn 250 pads at a time.
“All the components, including the heating system, thermal insulation, temperature controller, emission and ash collection, have undergone several rounds of tests and certified by NABL accredited laboratories,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / by U. Tejonmayam, TNN / September 14th, 2015
Indian-origin professional Mahesh Ramanujam has been named the new CEO of the prestigious US Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit organisation that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built, and operated.
Ramanujam, who hails from Chennai, would replace Rick Fedrizzi, the co-founder of USGBC and current CEO after he steps down at the end of 2016.
“Mahesh has a highly impressive track record of success in both his role as USGBC’s COO and as President of Green Business Certification Inc,” said USGBC board chair Marge Anderson.
“He is a proven leader who has exhaustive knowledge of the organisation, respect from its volunteer leadership and strong support from its team. He has extensive global experience and broad business acumen. He is the perfect choice to lead the organisation into the future,” he added.
“As a founder, I could not be happier, and as a CEO, I could not be more satisfied that I’ll be able to leave USGBC in the best hands possible,” said Fedrizzi.
Ramanujam said he was deeply honoured that the Board have placed their trust in him.
“I will serve the organisation and our movement with a long-term vision – keeping innovation as a top priority,” said Ramanujam.
“As USGBC’s CEO, I pledge to continually modernise and enhance our capabilities and performance to ensure we deliver the future that our founders envisioned,” he said.
Ramanujam joined USGBC in 2009 as Senior Vice President, Technology, before being named COO in September, 2011.
In December, 2012, he was also named President of the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) where he broadened offerings to better serve a wider client base, leading the organisation to change its name to Green Business Certification Inc earlier this year.
Prior to joining USGBC, Ramanujam was COO for Emergys, a business transformation consulting firm in North Carolina.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> NRI> NRI Achievers / PTI / September 09th, 2015
The Indian Rice Research Institute, Hyderabad, has awarded a farmer from Dharapuram for adopting drip irrigation system in rice cultivation, thereby reducing water consumption by 60%.
Parthasarathy M, 69, received the Innovative Rice Farmer Award on August 29. In all, 30 farmers from sixteen states were nominated for this award.
Parthasarathy bagged the award for largescale adoption of drip irrigation for rice cultivation in Amaravathy sub-basin in Tamil Nadu. The award was presented to his son during the Innovative Rice Farmers meet 2015 on August 29 at Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad, by the Union minister for labour and employment, Bandara Dattatreya.
Parthsarathy has been cultivating rice for 50 years. “In 2013, I was in Coimbatore for an agri fair in Codissia Complex. There I was introduced to the drip irrigation technology. I immediately went to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and was given a demo. I first adopted it for vegetables and then for growing maize. And, in 2014, I used the technology for rice,” he said.
The farmer, who draws water from the Amaravathi Dam, had installed drip irrigation to water trees in his farm in the 1980s. “But, I came to know about the use of this technology in rice only in 2014,” he said.
Parthasarathy said that he not only saved 60% water, but he also saw an increase in yield. “On an average, the yield was five tonnes per acre after I adopted drip irrigation, which was a 20% increase from the yield in 2013,” said Parthasarathy.
What’s unique about Parthasarathy’s achievement is that he used drip irrigation and crop rotation together. He cultivated onion, maize and rice in rotation. “This has helped improve his yield and save water consumption,” said director of water technology department, B J Pandian.
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University started research on the possibility of using drip irrigation for the cultivation of rice in 2010. “In 2012, we succeeded in cultivating rice through this technology. The state government also provides subsidy to farmers using drip irrigation,” he added.
Parthsarathy said that he spent 40,000/acre after receiving subsidy from the government. He received 73,000 per hectare as subsidy for installing drip irrigation.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Coimbatore / by Adarsh Jain, TNN / September 02nd, 2015
Out of at least 1 lakh plant species that humans can consume as food, hardly 30 are used as food and just three- wheat, rice and maize- predominantly get cultivated as food grains. In the unexplored plant species lies India’s wealth, said vice-chancellor of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Dr D P Biradar here.
Biradar on Wednesday inaugurated the third ‘International Symposium on Underutilised Plant Species – Exploration and Conservation for Future Generation’ at the Agricultural College and Research Institute (AC & RI) under the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU). The first two symposiums were held in Arusha, Tanzania (2008) and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2011). As part of the golden jubilee celebrations of AC & RI, Madurai, the third international symposium is being held by Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the institute in collaboration with the International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS), Belgium.
During the four-day event, researchers will explore the potential of underutilised plants as there is increasing endorsement at national and international levels on the important role that can be played by less-used crops and species in sustainable farming systems and human well-being.
Addressing the audience, Biradar said that according to the West, Indians are not aware of the immense value of these plant species found in their backyard. Plant species found in biodiversity-rich Western Ghats are worth a million dollars, he commented. In addition to being ignorant about their worth, Indians also tend to study these plants in isolation.
For example, a common weed like ‘coat button’ or ‘tridax daisy’ (tridax procumbens) can cure wounds. In the same way, wild vegetables that are yet to be domesticated have a lot of potential, like the wild bitter gourd which is getting more prominence in the food industry.
“There is a need for a multidisciplinary research approach on these underutilised plant species, which is going to be a boon to the Indian economy,” Biradar said.
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University VC Dr K Ramasamy said underutilised plants should be explored in a sustainable manner. He pointed out that though the Western Ghats were safeguarded, the Eastern Ghats from Kanyakumari to Kolkata was getting lost and its impact on environment was becoming visible in the present days.
Dr Bhimu Patil, director, vegetable & fruit improvement centre, A & M University, Texas, Dr Sandhya Gupta, vice chair, commission on plant genetic resources, ISHS, also spoke at the inaugural event.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, TNAU VC said they have identified 156 plant species in the state, of which 56 were medical plants.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Madurai / TNN / August 06th, 2015
Sofia Ashraf’s video has had more than a million views on YouTube, drawing attention to accusations against a thermometer factory in the town of Kodaikanal that closed down 14 years ago.
Sofia Ashraf.
An Indian rapper has gone viral with a music video calling on consumer products giant Unilever to clean up alleged toxic waste from a forested southern hill station. Sofia Ashraf’s video, posted online by a nongovernmental organization called Jhatkaa, or “shock” in Hindi, has had more than a million views on YouTube, drawing attention to accusations against a thermometer factory in the town of Kodaikanal that closed down 14 years ago.
Hindustan Unilever, the Indian subsidiary of the consumer goods company, has denied wrongdoing. It disputes claims of former workers who say their health has been damaged by exposure to mercury. The company said it shut down the factory in 2001 when environmental activists including Greenpeace “brought to Hindustan Unilever’s attention the fact that glass scrap containing mercury” had been sold to a scrap dealer about three kilometres from the factory.
“We have been rigorous in establishing the facts and several independent expert studies have concluded that there were no adverse impacts on the health of our people at Kodaikanal. We have also taken action to ensure the clean-up of soil within the factory premises,” a Hindustan Unilever spokesperson said in an email.
“There is still work to do here – which we are committed to fulfilling – as soon as we have received final consent from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to start the soil remediation.” Set to the beat of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda”, and retweeted by Minaj herself, Ashraf also asks Unilever to compensate workers.
“Kodaikanal won’t step down, until you make amends now,” she raps.
source : YouTube
source: http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in / IndiaToday.in / Home> News> India / Reuters Mumbai / August 04th, 2015
GREEN HOUSE:The terrace garden with herbs in the premises of Perungalathur Town Panchayat.Photo: G.Krishnaswamy.
The local body in the outskirts of Chennai uses waste materials
It is not often that visitors walk into a government office, to be greeted by the scent of herbs. In Perungalathur town panchayat, a suburban local body near Tambaram, the sight of lush green herbs on the office terrace is a welcome relief to the eyes.
Staff in the town panchayat office tend plants such as tulsi, mint, cayenne, thyme, cilantro and aloe vera. This they do in addition to their routine daily work.
The town panchayat has set up a model roof garden using waste materials and nourished by organic manure generated from its solid waste management and this has become the centre of attraction to people who visit the office.
“This helps to promote cultivation of chemical-free vegetables and herbs at home. A team of our staff were keen on improving the model garden with innovative methods,” said the Executive officer, M. Kesavan.
Plastic containers and bags produced by Horticulture Department are used to grow the plants. “Organic materials in vegetable wastes seep into the soil through the holes and enrich the soil,” he said.
Mr. Kesavan said the garden had been frequently visited by students’ teams and officials from other local bodies. The room temperature on the ground floor office has cooled down considerably. The town panchayat has been motivating residents to visit the garden and get a hands-on experience. They could use only fertilizer bags and waste containers to raise plants and dry wood for ‘pandhals’.
Using organic wastes generated within the house and wastewater discharged from kitchen is enough to harvest chemical residue-free vegetables.
Above all, it will also provide an excellent green cover to the house, he added. Workshops and training programmes by horticulture experts will be arranged if groups approached them, Mr. Kesavan added.
source: http:/www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by T. Madhavan / Chennai – July 26th, 2015
