Tamil Nadu plans to establish integrated cold chain infrastructure for banana in six regions to reduce wastage. The regions are Erode, Coimbatore, Tuticorin, Theni, Tiruchi and Tiruvannamalai. A detailed project report will shortly be prepared, sources said.
With an annual production of nearly 9 million tonnes, Tamil Nadu is the country’s largest producer of banana with nearly one third market share. However, around 30 per cent of the produce is wasted due to inefficient post-harvest practices, said sources.
A cold chain system maintains ideal storage conditions for perishables from the farm to the customer’s point. A typical cold chain infrastructure consists of pre-cooler, cold storages, controlled atmosphere store, refrigerated carriers, packaging, pack house and ripening chambers.
The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that the annual loss of opportunity at over ₹2,700 crore due to lack of cold storage infrastructure for banana. It has been urging the State government for the last few years to set up an integrated cold chain storage for banana.
Currently the capacity of cold storages, pack houses and ripening chambers for banana only accounts for 8 per cent of production. There are cold storages for banana in Theni, Tiruchi, Salem, Dindigul and in a number of small places built in the last two years. However, all of this can only help the industry handle less than one tenth of bananas produced, said Purushothaman Ravichandran, Chairman, CII National Task force on Cold Chain development.
Cold chain infrastructure will help in promoting new varieties and extending shelf life . Each location can generate employment for rural women and men of around 800 per location, he told Business Line.
By investing in cold chain infrastructure, Tamil Nadu can increase earnings of farmers by 40 per cent, while consumers get scientifically ripened fruit and opportunities for processing of banana get created, said Ravichandran, who is also the president of Danfoss Industries Pvt Ltd. This fully owned subsidiary of the Danish group Danfoss focuses on climate and energy efficient solutions.
Source: Hindu Business Online