Champua: Farmers in many cases are deprived of getting right price for their produce due to lack of marketing and preservation facilities. Some women farmers in Champua area of Keonjhar district have set an example for others by setting up a cold storage which is run by solar energy. This has made them self-sufficient. Women members of Baba Jhadeswar Self Help Group (SHG) of Maheswar village have been managing a solar-powered cold store facility given by OMBADC. Its storage capacity is 5 metric tonne. Rs15 lakh was spent for the project in 2021-22, with 100 percent subsidy to the beneficiaries from the Horticulture department.
Since then, the women members of this SHG have never looked back. They have taken up vegetable farming and they store their produce in the cold store till the time they get good prices in return. Prajwalit Mohant, one of the beneficiaries said that earlier they used to face a lot of problems after harvesting vegetables. “The vegetables could not be kept for a long time when they are unsold. They used to rot and go waste.
Now, that problem is over. Farmers have to keep their harvested vegetables for a long time in the cold store till they feel confident to sell them at right price to customers or traders,” Mohant observed. The labour they invested in raising crops does not go in vain after the cold storage facility was put in place in the area. These farmers are making good profits from the project. “Earlier, farmers felt compelled to sell their vegetables within a day or two after harvest. Now, the cold store has provided them preservation facility. Local people also pay rent to use the cold store,” they said. They observed that such cold stores are required in various parts of the district so that more people would be encouraged to take up vegetable farming.