Licencing process for cold storages to be streamlined

Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing (Independent Charge) Becharam Manna urged the cold storage owners to switch to solar energy to get rid of huge electricity bills.

“There will be an adequate supply of potatoes if weather conditions remain fine this year. As the condition of roads is good, potatoes are now transported to south Bengal from the northern parts of the state in seven hours. Cold storage owners should hold meetings with the local farmers from time to time,” he said.

The state has approximately 517 cold storage units, including multi-purpose ones. The cold storage association claimed that the area under cultivation of potato in the current season has gone up and the cold storage units will continue to play a pivotal role in marketing of the produce.

Association president Rajesh Kumar Bansal said, “A slow release of stock resulted in a disproportionate accumulation as 60% of the produce remained in cold storages till September-October. The situation was such that despite extension of storage period beyond November 30, over 20% stock remained undelivered till December-end.”

The association has pegged potato production in the state for the current season at 115 lakh tonnes.