BHU Agri students earn profit as ‘Earn-while-Learn’ in the EL Unit of the Dairy Department
Varanasi..The Final year B.Sc. (Ag) students of Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU have completed their Experiential Learning (EL) Module namely Milk Processing and Milk Products Manufacture in the Department of Dairy Science and Food Technology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
Total of 39 students have enrolled in this module, and actively worked around 4 months in the EL unit of the department. In this module, the students were involved in product development, processing, production, marketing and gained hands- on experience of entrepreneurship skills in areas related to dairy and foods business. Students actively participated in procurement and production of various dairy products namely Peda (Marketed as Mahamana Prasadam), Shrikhand, Gulab-jamun, Bajra Khoa Pinni, Chocolate Barfi, Misti Doi, Paneer. All these products were free from any adulteration and different quality norms were followed during the production. Students divided themselves into four primary groups- Procurement, Production, Packaging and Marketing sectors and completed their work timely. The state-of-the-art facilities under EL were used to prepare products under hygienic conditions with superior quality of raw materials and were packed under hygienic conditions with proper labels making it attractive to consumers. Several innovative techniques were explored to extend the shelf life of prepared products such as vacuum packaging.
The United Nations (UN) General assembly in its 75th session declared 2023 the “Internal Year of Millets”. In accordance, our unit introduced “Bajra Khoa Pinni” as a new product for increasing the nutrient contents in our products for our customers. All the products prepared in EL unit were marketed in retail, at various places of BHU campus such as Vishwanath Temple (New VT), Teachers Flats, Near EL unit of department, hostels, and faculties in BHU. The feedback of stakeholders, consumers and students were taken for improvement of product quality and services. This course benefits students by developing team work, leadership quality, decision making, professional exposure and further motivates them for entrepreneurship in the area of dairy and food sector. Students also earned a sufficient amount of profitability by selling the products developed through this module.
A share of the profit was distributed among the students by the coordinator of EL unit Prof. D.C. Rai on the concluding day of the session. Prof. Rai appreciated the students for their effort and further motivates them for taking entrepreneurship in the area of dairy and foods service as this area has lots of potentiality to earn and explore. He along with course instructors and mentors Dr. Arvind Dr. Tarun Verma and Mr. Sunil Meena expressed their wish to commercialize more products from the next session, keeping in mind the high demand and excellent review by the customers. This course of experiential learning is included by ICAR, GoI for the purpose of promoting professional skills, entrepreneurship, knowledge and marketing skills through meaningful hands-on experience and working in project mode, to build confidence through end-to-end, approach in product development, to acquire enterprise management capabilities including skills for project development and execution, accountancy, national/international marketing, etc.
