Chatra, the vegetable bowl of state, set to get 10 solar-powered cold storages soon

Chatra: Suffering from decades-old absence of storage for its produce, Chatra, the vegetable bowl of Jharkhand, is now set to get ten solar-powered cold storages in coming months.
Banshi Ganjhu, a farmer of Piri village in Simaria, said Chatra’s soil is highly fertile for round-the-year agriculture and hard-working as they are, farmers here never leave their plot vacant. The district supplies green vegetables to West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana and countries like Bangladesh and Nepal.
An agriculture officer of Chatra said the district produces around 25 lakh metric tonne tomato annually. This was the reason why in the 2018 Global Agricultural and Food Summit organised in Ranchi, Chatra’s tomatoes made its presence felt quite strongly. The officer said that farmers grow tomatoes on 6,000 hectares every year and even in kharif season. Chatra tomatoes would reach Pakistan but after the relations between the two country soured, it was stopped a few years ago. Even coriander and green chilli produced in the district are always in high demand, he said.
But despite being an agriculturally productive district, Chatra did not have a single cold storage for long resulting in a huge loss for farmers. “Agents come here round the year to buy our produce but as vegetables rot quickly due to lack of a storage facility, we are not getting a proper price for our produce,” lamented farmer Birendra Mahto of Giddhore.
But now that ten cold storages are set to open their doors in different blocks, farmers are happy.
District co-operative officer Amiya Kumar said six solar powered cold storages are ready and four are nearing completion. He said the department gave the construction work of the storages through Primary Agricultural Credit Socities (PACs).
Kumar said in eight panchayats, cold storages are of 30 metric ton capacity and two of 5 metric ton. A 30 metric ton cold storage costs 32 lakh and a 5 metric ton 17 lakh, he said.
The blocks to benefit include Huntergunj, Pratappur, Simaria, Giddhore, Mayurhund, Itkhori, Kanhachatti and Chatra. Officials said operation cost of the facilities will be low as they are run by solar power. Farmers can store their produce at a low cost, they said.
Giddhore farmer Ramdev Saw said now it will be possible for them to store their vegetables for long. “Better late than never,” he quipped.