Cold stores plenty, no benefit to ryots

ROURKELA: Thanks to Government support, private cold storage facilities are gradually coming up in tribal-dominated Sundargarh district to boost potato and vegetable cultivation. However, the cold stores are yet to become popular among horticulture farmers.

Absence of cold storage facilities had been a major headache for horticulture farmers of the district not long back. The private cold storage of 1,500 tonnes capacity at Rourkela was the last option for farmers two years back as the other two Government-owned stores in Kuanrmunda and Lahunipara blocks had been closed.

Sundargarh Deputy Director of Horticulture (DDH) Basudev Sahu informed that a cold storage of 5,000 tonnes has become functional in Bargaon block from 2016-end while another private store, having the same capacity, started operation from April last year in Bonai block.

The Government’s estimated cost for a cold storage of 5,000 tonnes is about `4 crore. Each of the private store promoters has been given a subsidy of `2.80 crore along with heavy incentives on energy bills for a period of six years, Sahu said.

Another private cold storage of 5,000 tonnes capacity is also coming up at Sankara near Sundargarh town with support from National Horticulture Board of the Central Government, he said and added that farmers are being charged `160 to `170 per quintal for a season from March to November.

Besides, a cold store of 10 tonnes has already been completed at Rajgangpur while two pre-cooling chambers of combined capacities of 16 tonnes are under construction at Sadar and Hemir blocks. These facilities would be beneficial to preserve thin skin vegetables for a short period of 15 days. Similarly, thick skin vegetables can be preserved for 45 days in the chambers, Sahu informed.
However, farmers are not fully aware of the new cold storage facilities and are being informed to use them, Sahu added.

Incidentally, the two cooling chambers with combined capacity of 45 tonnes, which were constructed in Nuagaon block four years back, are yet to be made functional. Similarly, a 10-tonne capacity chamber in Bisra block meant for BPL farmers is yet to operate. Sahu said initially, power supply issue was the reason for the delay in operation and now, there are management problems among local villagers.

Administrative sources said that the upcoming Wholesale Market Yard project of Regulated Market Committee, with an estimated cost of about `98.5 crore, would also have a mega cold storage facility which would benefit horticulture farmers of the entire Panposh sub-division, including leading horticulture producers of Nuagaon block.

Bonai Assistant Director of Horticulture Sanjeev Mahanta said with availability of cold storage facilities, farmers of the potato cultivation belt of Ruguda, Jangla, Badgogua, Kello, Kuliposh, Kariadihi and other pockets would be encouraged to revive cultivation of tuber crop.