Title :  Utilisation of  agricultural waste for the production of high-valued products

Author : Dr. Renu Agrawal

Pages : 140+XIV

Price : INR 2,700.00

Publisher : New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi

Considering the references, numbering 480, cited it in the concluding section of the publication over 40 pages as well as information and data on agro and other waste happening in the country, presented in seven tables and three figures, one gets a clear impression of the time and labour bestowed by the author in her   monumental work.

Grossly estimated annual output of India’s agriculture, including crops, horticultural products in gardens and plantations, constituting the mass of all plant sources, in addition to animal sources including livestock and animals produced solely for meeting food needs are at best empirical to a reasonable extent.

The quantitative figures, quoted both in official channels and others are also liable to vary significantly from year to year. Irrespective of these features, the matter chosen by the author on grounds of quality of the waste commands the highest attention of all players in its world, namely farming fraternity, consuming public, policy-making authorities, and research teams and so on, who are to be made to sit up, think and get started. The cost-benefit ratio in the process of utilising the agro waste on lines indicated by the author in a concise book can neither be exaggerated nor denied.

Chapters

The author has presented her perception of agro waste, its dynamics of emerging during agricultural activity, and subsequent post-harvest stages, its unrewarding uses prevailing at present in the country, products of added economic and utility values that are possible to be manufactured by applying available and novel technologies, opportunities to establish enterprises resulting in job creation, new skills and investment of capital which no administration can afford to ignore.

The author has delineated the information, date and issues bearing on agro waste in seven chapters with a brief introduction followed by defining waste. In reality, this term serves to consider the man of residue remaining after considering the output as food but allowed to be downgraded as waste.

Wealth

Focus by the author on agro waste from the quality angle, with only a hint on its quantity angle, is sure to attract the attention of the county’s technocrats which can be expected to prompt them to dissect the matter presented by the author in the book and translate their plans taking the potential to a practical plan. The bottom line of Dr. Renu Agrawal in this concise publication is best expressed by the expression: Development of a country happens by transforming waste to wealth. Under development, country is one where wealth is left as waste.

About the author

Dr. Renu Agrawal, after a rewarding stint of many decades at the Mysuru-based Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), is engrossed during her post-retirement life in work as a science communicator creating awareness among lay people what role science can play in daily life.

Hailing from Pink city Jaipur, Rajasthan, the author has taken residence in Mysuru where she has earned recognition for her resolve to spread science-based knowledge for the overall good of society. Dr. Renu Agrawal’s book being reviewed here is ample testimony to her commitment to her mission. The book, dedicated to the farming fraternity, is scheduled for release at a function in Mysuru on August 25, 2018 —BRS