Mhow: Retired Army Lt. Col. selling sun-dried vegetables to the US!

Anurag Shukla, a Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, lives in a small town, Mhow, near Indore, Madhya Pradesh. After his retirement, Anurag wanted to live peacefully away from the rush of the city. That’s not the only reason. He said,

‘I wanted to create something similar to an agroforest, around which I could live a sustainable life.’

Mhow, officially called Dr Ambedkar Nagar, is also the birthplace of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. As per some reports, In 1800, the British set up a cantonment for Third Anglo-Maratha War. It is not a highly populated city and has significant forest cover around. Anurag said he saw wild boars around the fences of his house.

When Ground Report visited his home in Mhow, he was talking about his experiments with sun-drying machines amidst other things, with childlike zeal. 

Anurag, with his wife Archana, follows a sustainable, and healthy lifestyle. Their energy needs are fulfilled through rooftop solar panels. They have a rainwater harvesting system for their water needs in the high-temperature summer season in April-May-June. They have dug a small lake to store water for their agroforest as well. Archana said,

'masala, and atta are a few things which we buy otherwise everything we aim to grow here.'

The machine in the below-mentioned picture is made by him through years of experimentation. A small fan is installed on the back side of the sun-dryer to extract the moisture from the vegetables, and fruits. Once, completed dried they are stored in an air-tight container. The fan in the solar dryer is also run through small solar energy. Anurag said, now we can cook them or eat them raw at any point of the year. The water when cooking, and saliva when eating raw would provide the necessary moisture.

Anurag made us try a few of his sun-dried fruits and vegetables. Fruits, particularly apple slices, tasted much sweeter than normal. On being questioned if he has added any artificial sweetener, he said, ‘No, this is the natural flavour of the fruit’.

‘My sun-dried vegetables are being shipped to the United States’. In explaining further he said, one of the guests really enjoyed the taste of bhindi (lady finger) when they were served as snacks. Hence, they wanted bhindi and some of the other veggies to be packed for them to take to the US… it is a good side business,” he jokingly added.

Solar dryer Science

The solar dryer is an important usage beyond just electricity. Solar dryers are being used in places where conventional energy options aren’t available. This is basically divided into two parts: direct, and indirect. As the name suggests, direct solar drying, fruits, vegetables, crops etc are directly exposed to the sun to remove moisture. But, it has limitations as it can be damaged by insects, birds, etc. 

We have seen direct solar dryers in our homes.

On the other hand, there are indirect solar dryers, which Anurag Shuklas uses. The items are dried in an insulted case with a black absorption surface. Further, it has an inlet of cold air and an outlet for hot air which removes moisture.

Livelihood potential

Solar energy has immense potential as a livelihood opportunity for people from low-income groups.  As per the CEEW report, India's renewable energy expansion has the potential to employ more than one million people between 2022 to 2030. Women would particularly benefit through decentralized renewable energy (DRE) like solar dryers. 

The cost of my one solar dryer would differ from 7,000 to 1 lakh depending on the size of the equipment. But, has the potential to add to the annual income by 50,000-60,000 rupees.

Conclusion

They emphasised that one should consume only seasonal vegetables if you’re buying from outside. The non-seasonal vegetables are full of pesticides, which are not good for your health. Anurag mentioned solar drying is not new to Indians. We have been doing it for years. With changing weather patterns, we have to adopt new technologies and focus on our health.

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