Power starved but blessed with over 200 days of bright and sunny days! The paradox has led Jharkhand to give the idea a thought where solar-powered cold storages can become a safe home for abundance of seasonal vegetables and fruits grown in different parts of the State.
Jharkhand State Agriculture Marketing Board (JSAMB) has decided to go ahead with the plan to build a series of cold storages run on solar power. As per initial estimates, warehouses with about 35,000 metric tonne of total capacity would come up especially located in storehouses of vegetables and fruits.
“Solar power based cold storages have been planned in the State in which about 35000 MT capacity of perishable items can be stored. At one hand, we would be raising longevity of the seasonal produces while on the other the fruits and vegetables can be exported without much damage. It would be a big boost for the growers and farmer organisations engaged into this,” said Rajkumar, Managing Director of JSAMB.
Warehouses in the State and not equipped with cold storages and also not up to the standards of the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority or WDRA. Furthermore problems related to erratic supply of electricity in most parts of the State have worsened things for Jharkhand. As per an estimate more than 30 per cent of the green items go waste in seasons in the want of reliable storage capacity. “The idea would also provide cushion to the State in getting grants coming from the Centre for the purpose. We have been losing this as we did not have any plan or the scheme related to building warehouses and cold storages. This would also encourage ‘vayda bazar’ in some form here,” added the official.
The Centre provides financial assistance in the form of grant-in-aid at the rate of 50 per cent of the total cost of plant and machinery and technical civil works in general areas and at the rate of 75 per cent in difficult areas, including northeastern States, for creation of cold chain infrastructure.
The Board is planning to float tender for this purpose in three months’ time. To expedite the things the JSAMB is also mulling to go for a pre-fabricated structure. “Jharkhand is often rated as a power deficit State but we have more than sufficient solar radiation available here which can be used successfully for running cold storages. If the structures were to be pre-fabricated, we would be able to commission multi-purpose cold storages by the end of this year,” said a senior official of the Agriculture Department.
The structure would have rooftop type of solar paneling system which can be located even at barren piece of land without too many hiccups. Areas such as Mandar, Khunti, Bero, parts of Palamu, Seraikela-Kharsawan and Hazaribagh are known as homes of green vegetables. Often in the want of storage, the perishable items go waste or sold at lower price despite having great demand in the cities like Mumbai, Kolkata or Delhi and even overseas.