Uttar Pradesh, a major producer of wheat in India, and a leading producer of wheat-based baked products boasts of several manufacturing units. These units are run by small entrepreneurs who produce baked food products every day to cater to the growing demands of a population seeking convenience along with choice and taste. With a steep rise in consumption over the years, there is a corresponding need to improve the quality and nutritional content of the products. The increased demand coupled with mushrooming bakery retail outlets has resulted in a need for more skilled bakers.
In order to stimulate the baked comestibles sector, the Agricultural Innovation Partnership (AIP) has brought together an eminent faculty from across the world to train small-scale producers of baked products, students, unemployed youths and homemakers from the low and middle income segments. AIP, funded by the USAID, is a consortium of leading agricultural universities and institutions in India and US Land-grant Universities managed by Sathguru Management Consultants.
AIP's unique program aims to provide participants with innovative avenues for employment and inculcate a tradition of independent enterprise towards economic progress. An added benefit of this initiative is the improvement of the nutritional quality, safety and shelf life of baked goods and a wider choice of products for the discerning consumer. The program will not only help the target group nurture entrepreneurial skills required to manage the bakery business at a small scale, techniques to expand it and promote self-sufficiency, it will also provide hands-on training to the participants in the current proven hygienic practices involved in manufacturing different types of Indian/Western breads, pizzas, cakes, pastries, cookies, etc. The participants will also learn to handle several different kinds of machines involved during the production.
The participants will be trained at the Food Processing Unit of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology (SVPUA&T). The unit at SVPUA&T boasts of a well-equipped laboratory for manufacturing baked products. The training and demonstration sessions will witness the convergence of Dr. Poul M. T. Hansen and Ms. Vivian Harvey from Ohio State University, USA; Mr. Asif Ali Abidi from the Institute of Hotel Management, Meerut; Mr. Chandan Pandey from the Collectorate, Food Safety and Drug Administration, Aligarh and Prof. Samsher from SVPUA&T on 6-8 November, 2012.
About AIP
Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Agricultural Innovation Partnership (AIP), a five-year project, comprises a consortium of Indian Agricultural Universities and land-grant universities in the US (Cornell, Illinois, Georgia, The Ohio State, Tuskegee, and UC, Davis) and private sector partners that include John Deere, Tata Chemicals Ltd, and Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd. With the objective of bringing in holistic transformation in Indian agriculture, AIP plans to enhance teaching capabilities of Indian universities on how best to deliver course materials, maximize student learning, and develop strategies to maximize knowledge gain by students and teachers to enhance farm-level output.
About Sathguru Management Consultants
Sathguru Management Consultants is a multifaceted advisory firm providing strategic, technological, functional and sectoral advisory services to an international clientele. Sathguru is among the largest strategy and technology management advisory firm for the life science sector that covers a broad spectrum of industries including agriculture, food, retail, animal sciences and health care. Sathguru also advises Government agencies and other policymakers. In the International Development arena Sathguru is retained by agencies such as USAID, World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to manage and execute projects with focus on innovation, technology adoption and capacity building in developing nations. Sathguru has offices in India, USA and Bangladesh and representative/affiliate office in Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe. Sathguru has pioneered creation of public-private partnerships for advancement of life science research, skill development and technology commercialization.
CONTACT DETAILS
S. Susheel Kumar, Senior Manager - Corporate Communications, Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd., +91 (40) 30160237, 30160333