Govt to establish 11 cold storages under HADP

Srinagar, Dec 16: The Horticulture Planning and Marketing Department, J&K is planning to establish 11 cold storage facilities across the valley to enhance post-harvest management.
Deputy Director Central Department of Horticulture Planning & Marketing J&K, Manzoor Ahmad Mir said the cold storage facilities would be established under the Holistic Agriculture Development Plan of the J&K Government.
“We have been tasked with establishing 11 cold stores. As on date, we haven’t received any applications. We are encouraging and informing people to come forward and apply for the cold storage facilities,” he said.
The 11 cold storages are expected to be established in the next five years, each cold storage having a capacity of 5,000 metric tonnes. These storage facilities, when completed, would add 55,000 metric tonnes of storage capacity.
As per the norms, beneficiaries will have to submit DPR with justification including demand and supply gaps, detailed cost estimate, technical specifications of the components of the ice plant/cold storages, recurring cost involved, source of funds for meeting the beneficiary contribution including bank consent for providing loan, undertaking of beneficiary to the effect that no other governmental assistance is availed for the proposed project etc.
The official said cost estimates will be based on the latest SoRs admissible in the project area and prevailing market rates and beneficiaries will provide documentary evidence of availability of requisite land etc.
On the other side the Horticulture Department Kashmir is planning to enhance cold storage facilities from 2.06 lakh MT to 5 lakh MT in the coming years aimed to counter the post-harvest losses and financial difficulties for apple growers.
Over the years, the department has been working to improve the cold storage facilities that are aimed to felicitate the farmers and save the fruit crop to gain more profit in the market.
The department is more focused on the extension of cold storage facilities. “By providing more cold storage facilities, our apple produce could be stored for more months, which will help get a good price in the market,” said an official of the Horticulture Department.
Officials also said that the UT government, under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP), has taken several steps to construct cold storage facilities in both the public and private sectors, with priority given to apple-producing regions.
The move aims to avoid post-harvest losses. As per officials a substantial loss (1 Lakh Crore) is incurred annually along the post-harvest value chain with lack of proper logistics and storage facility in India acting as a significant contributor to the same.