For the first time in Odisha, a woman SHG group has set up a 10-MT solar-powered cold storage under the Odisha Livelihood Mission of Mission Shakti with an aim to make the rural women self-reliant.
The farmers of the locality are happy as the district has no cold storage. If sources are to be believed, the Chandanpur-based Dadhibamanjew Udyog Gosthi with the financial support under Odisha Livelihood Mission of Mission Shakti Department set up the cold storage at an estimated cost of Rs 23 lakh. District Collector Amrit Ruturaj, on Wednesday inaugurated the unit which will be used to mitigate distress sale of vegetables during peak season. Earlier, the farmers used to face a lot of problems to preserve their vegetables and other produces during bumper crops. So the vegetables got wasted or went for distress sale. Now a cold storage having been set up, thousands of farmers of Keshpur, Chandan Nagar, Charigaon, Sanamanatia and Palasingha GPs would be benefitted. “The women members of Dadhibamanjew Udyog Gosthi have been entrusted with task to maintain cold storage. The farmers have to pay 30-40 paisa per kg to keep their vegetables in the unit,” said Kendrapada BDO Ashwini Kumar Das.