Shillong: The Indian Chamber of Commerce recently organised a daylong workshop on the development of cold chain for the first time in Meghalaya.

Ishantor Sobhapandit, Regional Director of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), stressed the importance of cold storage to prevent post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables. He said that the state’s comparative advantages in producing fruits, vegetables and other horticulture products can be tapped by setting up small-scale food processing units backed up by the cold-chain system.

The state produces a large amount of spices such as gingers, turmeric seeds, fruits like pineapple and vegetables which can be processed and marketed locally. A strong cold chain system is of utmost necessity to market them properly to the end consumer. Prabhudatta Sahoo, General Manager, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), informed the house about the numerous funding available with NABARD. He also said that NABARD has very recently financed a Zero Energy Cold Storage of 5 Metric Ton capacity. NABARD is very persistently trying the option of viability gap funding.

E S Brisohbar, Regional Manager, Central Warehousing Corporation said that her organization is deeply committed towards development of Cold Storages. She informed that getting the land is the biggest hurdle in setting up a big cold storage facility. But despite all challenges Central Warehousing Corporation has recently started a large Cold Storage in Barapani. She said that CWC believes in Warehousing for Everyone in everywhere.

Maqbool Lyngdoh Suiam, Officer on Special Duty from the Directorate of Food Processing, said Horticulture is the main forte of Meghalaya. He said that after many long years of hard work the state government is opening 17 cold storages for ginger with a capacity of 20 MT each.

The program was attended by a large number of Food Processing entrepreneurs, FPOs, FPCs and many senior government officials.

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