Assam: Lack of adequate cold storage makes farmers and consumers bear the brunt

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The annual vegetable production is huge in Assam, where the number of cold storage facilities is quite minimal. To cap it all, private parties own most of these facilities, making the farmers bear the brunt. During the peak season, the farmers have to sell their produce at throwaway prices.

In 2022-23, the state produced around 215 lakh tonnes of vegetables. On the contrary, the state has only 46 cold storages, and most of them are on lease with private parties. Small vegetable growers hardly get a chance to keep their produce in these cold storage facilities. Apart from these, most of the cold storage in the state has been lying defunct or is yet to be operational.

For instance, the cold storage facility with a capacity of 5,000 MT at Kharupetia, which opened in 2021, is yet to be operational due to a conflict with the lessee. Likewise, the cold storage facility at Chenijan with a capacity of 2000 MT has been lying defunct.

The state has 29 cold storages under the DRDA, but all of them have been leased out to private parties. The Assam Warehousing Corporation has three cold storages, the Assam State Agriculture Marketing Board has six, and the BTC has two.

According to sources, these cold storage facilities were constructed for the benefit of local farmers. However, the local farmers can avail themselves of hardly ten percent of the storage facility, as those who run cold storage make 90 percent of their spaces open for imported fruits and vegetables.

Another problem is that the areas that produce the bulk of vegetables lack cold storage facilities; besides, the number of such facilities is fewer than the quantity of vegetable production. Assam being an agrarian state, cold-storage facilities should have been more. The lack of cold storage nearby has led a section of farmers to sell their produce at throwaway prices, and sometimes they have to throw away their produce as vegetables like tomatoes, brinjals, cabbages, cauliflowers, etc., are highly perishable. Even farmers sell potatoes at minimal prices now due to the paucity of cold storage facilities. In off-seasons, the consumers have to buy potatoes coming from Shillong, Agra, Kolkata, Nainital, etc., at higher prices.

According to sources, the improper management of cold storage facilities has stemmed from the lack of a combined effort and mechanism from the government’s end. They are being run in an unruly manner for which the farmers suffer the worst.

According to sources, cold storages ensure a continuous flow of goods and vegetables in the market from the time of production to the time of consumption. Since agricultural products are produced seasonally and required for consumption throughout the year, it is imperative on the part of the government to protect the quality of perishable and semi-perishable products from deterioration. Thus, this augurs well for the government to set up more and more cold-storage facilities to give the farmers a respite.

However, the current scenario is that the private parties have a good grip over the chain of cold-storage facilities in the state, depriving the small growers of remunerative prices for their hard-earned produce.

The need of the hour for the government is to come up with a combined and concrete mechanism for the setting up and management of cold storage in the state in the larger interest of the local farmers and consumers.

 Also Read: Assam: 5000-MT cold storage lying idle for 3 years at Kharupetia

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