COLD STORAGE UNIT (FRUITS, VEGETABLES & FISH)

Cold Storage is the high sized freezer, which is commonly used for storage purposes. Cold storage is used to store fruits, vegetables, processed meat, Dairy Products, Spices, Dry fruits, jaggery, pulses, frozen foods, and pharmaceutical uses. Post-harvest management is a very important aspect of farming because all vegetables and fruits which are produced can’t be sold fresh at the same time. The quantity of production needs to be stored for further processing. Under those circumstances, cold storage becomes an integral aspect of post-harvest management techniques. Cold Storage Manufacturing has an important link between farmers and consumers. Because of the rapid growth of food and related industries, cold storage is gaining huge demand.

India is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world scenariobut the availability of fruits and vegetables per capita is significantly low because of Post-Harvest loses which account for about 25% to 30% of production. Further, the quality ofsizeable quantity of produces also deteriorates the moment it reaches the consumer. Thishappens because of perishable nature of the products. If consumption is not gettingstabilized, the farmers switch over to other crops instead of going for one crop in thesubsequent year, and cycle continues. Our farmers continue to remain poor even thoughthey take risk to cultivate high value fruits and vegetables year after year.

Cold Storage is a special kind of room, the temperature of, which is kept very low with the help of machines and precision instruments. India is having a unique geographical position and a wide range of soil thus producing variety of fruits and vegetables like apples, grapes, oranges, potatoes, chillies, ginger, etc. Marine products are also being produced in large quantities due to large coastal areas.

The cold storages, which are available in the State, are mostly to store singlecommodity like potato, which results in poor capacity utilization. Introduction of coldstorage/cold chain facilities in the State can prove to be a boon for the horticulturefarmers.