Article by Priya Patel, February 2009.

Barli Development Institute for Rural Women (Barli), hosted the first ever International Solar Food Processing Conference at its campus in Indore, Madhya Pradesh from 14th to 16th January 2009. The conference was initiated and sponsored by International Solar Energy Society along with WISIONS from Germany and co-sponsored by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India.

This unique conference had been organised with a focus specifically on solar food processing for income generation and economic feasibility drawing on the technology’s impact on local communities. Over the course of the three days, a series of workshops by leading solar technology researchers and practitioners from around the world aimed to offer an effective platform for exchange of new ideas and innovations in solar cooking. What resulted was a conference which saw 130 Indian and foreign experts consult on setting up international solar food standards that could encompass the packaging, storing, marketing and selling of solar foods at a national and international level. Exhibition stalls accompanied the seminars, showcasing the latest solar food processing technologies and products.

Over 100 delegates attended the conference, including 30 foreign delegates. The 18 countries that were represented at the conference included Afghanistan, Austria ,Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, China, Gambia, Germany, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Uganda ,UK and USA. The 11 states that were represented within India were Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Important Government dignitaries present included Dr. P.C Maithani, Director of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, New Delhi, who spoke on Indian Government Policies and Strategies to promote Solar Food Processing; Mrs. Sneh Lata Kumar, Ex-Director Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Government of India, and Chief Guest, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Environmentalist and Global Eco-feminist, Navdanya Dehradun.

So why was there a need for such a conference to take place?

Fact: Our whole global human society is at a point where the economic system is failing and we are running out of resources of energy. We are confronted with climate change and other more local adverse environmental effects and disasters.

According to Ms. Heike Hoedt, Chief Organiser, “Who is going to solve these problem

s for us – if not ourselves? We have to rethink and then restructure many aspects of our personal lives and of our societies. Food is a very basic human need. If we look into re-thinking Food Processing, we are the core of our survival.”

Why is solar food processing the future?

Shifting from food processing to solar food processing will in turn help our society to shift from non-renewable energy to renewable energy. According to Dr. Gokul Ramamurthy and Mr. Ishan Purohit of Renewable Energy Technology Applicatoins, The Energy Institute, the Indian food processing industry grows by 10% each year. In 2005, it was valued at 90 billion Euro, 50% of energy input is thermal energy. The rest is electrical. It is fair to say that both electrical and thermal energy have the potential to become renewable sources.   Solar energy experts believe that it lends itself perfectly towards a world where everybody can make a living. It generates income for farmers and those marginalised sectors of society that were previously reduced to being mere suppliers of raw materials.

Why was Barli chosen to host the conference?

Barli Development Institute was selected to be a venue for the conference mainly because it has been successfully cooking with large Scheffler solar cookers for over 15 years. Food is prepared on the solar cookers for 100 people each day, 300 days out of a year. The institute has also manufactured and transferred 13 solar cookers for 4 large community solar kitchens in school hostels, tribal areas and orphanages in Madhya Pradesh. Barli also houses the world’s only solar storage cooker of its kind, which retains up to 400kg of energy, so that food can be prepared after sunset. All these activities have evolved making this institute a centre for learning and research for professional schools and colleges in India and overseas, and it is because of this continual progress that 350 SK14 domestic solar cookers are functioning in tribal and rural communities across the country.

Importance of Solar Energy to the State of Madhya Pradesh

1). Drying of horticulture crops using solar energy is well proven. This will add value and make horticulture as a profitable activity.

2). Herbal plants and spices can be processed using solar energy which will add to profit for the farmers.

3). Madhya Pradesh is being projected as an organic state. Use of solar energy which is also organic in nature will enhance the value of the organic products being exported from Madhya Pradesh.

4). Several experiments have been conducted where self-help groups have used solar energy to make food items and market locally in he weekly markets. Thousands of self-help groups are there in Madhya Pradesh and using available solar energy can become a tool for additional employment to the families below poverty line specially the women amongst them.

So what do the practitioners, experts and end-users have to say about it?*

Janak Palta McGilligan, Director of Barli Development Institute for Rural Women expressed her views on the outcome of the conference: “There should now be attempts to improve the quality of food (hygiene/storage), there is a need to demonstrate environmental benefits, provide an alternative to using local natural resources like wood, reduce harmful emissions (CO2) and create local incomes and employment opportunities for small and medium entrepreneurs.”

Deepak Gadhia, the country’s leading manufacturer and exporter of Scheffler community solar cooker and institutional solar team cooking systems spoke of the four villages near Tirupati that he has made smoke-free in his presentation to delegates. “The villagers not only use solar cookers to cook their food but are also selling solar-cooked edibles in the market…they pay solar cookers installments out of profit they earn and not from their pockets.” Speaking of his 100 MV solar power plant he is setting up in Gujarat, Mr. Gadhia explained, “We’re also developing solar technology or food processing and preservation, cold storages, desalination of sea water so it can be used for domestic purposes. My dream is that every building in the country should have an integrated solar system that can cook food, heat water and run TV, radio and music systems.” To this day, Mr. Gadhia and his wife Mrs. Shirin Gadhia are responsible for manufacturing the world’s largest solar cooker, set up Tirupati Balaji temple which cooks meals for 30,000 people a day and consequently saves 400 litres of diesel. His accomplishments extend further – his community solar cookers have been installed at 32 establishments including an army mess in Ladakh, hospitals, ashrams, jails, hostels and other temples.

Wolfgang Scheffler, International Solar Energy Society, Germany, inventor of the SK14 parabolic solar cookers and reflectors was among the special guests invited to speak at the conference. In 1984, Scheffler invented solar reflectors and passed on his invention to world for free so that the poor, who cannot afford cooking gas or electricity, could reap the benefits. “I always wanted to do something useful for people. This mindless burning of fossilised fuel is disturbing. For a peaceful world, you need to minimize the difference between the rich and the poor and solar energy is an inexpensive means to fulfill energy needs of the poor. By passing on my technology, I do social service.”

Dr. Michael Gotz, a Swiss teacher for solar and renewable energies believe that in order to promote solar cooking to the masses, one needs to administer political, industrial and educational support. Speaking in favour of the conference as a tool for generating environmental awareness, Dr. Gotz further proclaimed, “I want the world to be ready before the big ecological crash. If we develop renewable sources of energy fast, there will be much less harm before the crash and the transition will be smooth.”

(*Quotes taken from the Hindustani Times Live Indore, Saturday, January 17 2009)

Conference proceedings

The opening ceremony was presided by Chief Guest, Shri Kailash Vijayvavjya, Minister of Food Processing, rural Industries, Horticulture, Commerce and Industries, Employment, Science and Technologies, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal. Other important dignitaries attending included Mrs. Zena Soli Sorabjee, Chairperson of Board of Directors of Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, Dr T.C.Tripathi, Adviser Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Government of India, Delhi, and Dr Uma Shashi Sharma Mayor of Indore.

Special international guests include Mr. Rolf Behringer, International Solar Energy Society, Freiburg, Germany, Ms.Heike Hoedt, Organizing Committee, Germany and Wolfgang Scheffler, inventer of the SK14 Parabolic Solar cookers. Among the 130 delegates who attended from all over the world, included speakers, Chen Xiaofu Han Tingcun, from China Association of Rural Energy Industry, China, Bev Blum from Solar Cookers International Association, Stockton, USA, Christoph Sutter, Switzerland and Shyam S. Nandwani from Laboratorio de EnergíaSolar, Departamento de Física, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica. The inauguration ceremony began with an invocation and prayer followed by an introduction Dr. Mrs Janak Palta McGilligan, Director, Barli Development Institute for Rural Women.

Valedictory Session

The valedictory session took place on 16th January 2009 and began with Ms. Heike Hoedt inviting the special guests on to the stage. The guests were awarded unique Barli mementoes by a member of staff and what followed were 5 minute presentations by a representative of each workshop to present their findings. Vandana Shiva, environmentalist and eco-feminist gave an epic speech on the needs for the convergence between organic farming and solar energy. Ms. Shiva admitted that she had not recognized this need earlier. However, with people becoming more environmentally conscious and debate surrounding food miles and mass energy consumption, Ms. Shiva was adamant that India’s climate was ideal for solar cookers to exist and maintain and that solar energy is the solution for the future. She called for a greater preservation of nutrients in food and proclaimed that sun, solar and soil were imperative to this kind of sustainable growth.