Indore startup offers low-cost solar dryers to farmers | Fusion - WeRIndia

You might have heard several times that farmers dump their produce on roads due to price crashes. It causes a heavy financial loss to them. As they cannot store their fresh produce for a long time, they have no choice but to sell it for lower prices.

Otherwise, they have to dump it on the roads. To help farmers improve the shelf-life of their produce, this startup came up with a solution.

Raheja Solar Food Processing Pvt. Ltd., an Indore startup, offers low-cost solar dryers for farmers to create value-added products. These solar dryers help them dry their produce and thereby reduce food wastage.

Varun Raheja, the founder of the startup, saw many farmers wasting their produce due to a fraught supply chain. As many farmers don’t have adequate capital to store their produce for a longer time, they rely on intermediaries. As a result, they have to sell their produce for lower prices.

That’s why Varun wanted to find out a solution for them. He researched a lot and launched his company to offer affordable solar dryers.

Farmers can create value-added products like dried tomatoes, ginger, onions, mangoes, watermelons and many more from the fresh produce using these solar dryers.

The dryers help retain the colour, fragrance, taste, and nutrients of products. Hence, farmers can sell them at their desired time and price.

The startup also buys dried products from farmers and sells them to end consumers. It has two collection centres, one in Indore and another in Vijayawada.

Raheja Solar Food Processing Pvt. Ltd. has partnered with local vendors to make solar dryers. They design different types of solar dryers. The price of these dryers varies with design and size. It starts from ₹10,000. It can be used for domestic purposes.

The startup installed around 1,600 solar dryers. As all farmers cannot afford the equipment, the startup works with farmer groups. It also sells solar dryers to other countries like Bhutan, Indonesia, and Malawi.

Image from Pxhere (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Reference: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/539842