PIONEER: A view of CFTRI. — Photo: M.A. Sriram

MYSORE: Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) here will now focus on primary processing and utilisation of by-products, V. Prakash, CFTRI director , has said.

Dr. Prakash told presspersons here on Tuesday that CFTRI was working towards utilisation of by-products formed during food processing so as to enable value addition to the product. Extraction of oil from mango seed and rice bran were among the projects being explored by scientists, he said.

Research work could not be implemented or made popular unless an economical value was added to the product. It would take time for research findings and their implementation to become popular, he added.

Dr. Prakash said that CFTRI had claimed nearly a thousand patents in the past 15 years, and it topped among institutions receiving patents for research.

Patenting was not about selling the product or a research finding, but about ensuring protection to the intellectual property, he added. CFTRI had decided to give priority to reaching science and technology to society and getting involved in the food supply chain.

Cottage industry

The 11th Five Year Plan focused on the cottage and village industry, and CFTRI had a major role in contributing to the success of the plan, he said.

The Horticulture Mission was promoting extension of horticulture crops, and this had made important CFTRI's role in protecting the interests of small and marginal farmers, Dr. Prakash added.

Dr. Prakash said that setting up of incubation centres or the small processing centres in taluks would give farmers better security.

Extension of tenure

Dr. Prakash has received an extension of tenure as CFTRI director until November 2011.

A release said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his capacity as president of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has granted approval for extension of tenure of the official.

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