Cold storage with a difference

The cold storage built by a seed trader in Dinajpur's Kaharol upazila holds a lot of promise. It runs without electricity and its design has been proven to be effective for the last five years. A structure built on earth, brick and bamboo with paddy residue to line the rooftop, the facility has bamboo flooring and shelves and a water reservoir beneath the building does the cooling. The other interesting feature is that the structure costs a little over Tk 500,000 to build and vegetables like potato, pointed gourds and cucumbers can be stored for 6 months, cauliflowers can be preserved for a month and cabbages for 75 days. This is the news farmers have been waiting for. Traditional cold storage facilities in the country charge up to Tk350 for a 75kg sack of potatoes whereas it can be stored for the same time span at the electricity-less facility for Tk75, which is a fraction of the cost!

Although the initial cost of the building may seem a little steep, the cost savings for farmers is huge and maintaining the facility is very easy for prospective proprietors. This is a design that works apparently, but the full benefit of it can only be appreciated if the government decides to replicate it on a wider scale. The design itself came to fruition with NGO help, but it is the government through its agriculture extension programme that must step in to bring the fruits of this design to famers nationwide.