In a significant attempt to enable farmers get good price for their produce in the market, the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Society (PACCS) at Nachikurichi near here has established a cold storage and ripening centre.
It is the first credit society in the district to have a cold storage facility. The 10 tonne capacity facility has been constructed at an estimate of ₹48 lakh. Of this, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has contributed ₹44 lakh as a soft loan with the repayment period of eight years. The PACCS has met the remaining₹4 lakh from its own fund.
Depending upon the requirement of farmers, the storage facility can be used both for preserving and ripening purposes. Options have been provided to use the facility for ripening and storage simultaneously. Farmers can also use the facility for storing produce in small quantities too.
The society charges 75 paise per kilo for ripening fruits, particularly banana. For cold storage, it collects 50 paise per kilo.
“It is a gift for progressive farmers to preserve their vegetables until they get good and remunerative prices in the market. We hope that the farmers will utilise the facility,” said K. C. Ravichandran, Joint Registrar of Cooperatives, Tiruchi.
He said the PACCS at Nachikurichi would act as a procurement centre for vegetables and it could be supplied to nine farm fresh outlets in Tiruchi. The vegetables would be kept in the cold storage till they were despatched to the farm fresh outlets. Hence, the farmers could bring their produce to the PACCS for sales.
Mr. Ravichandran said it has been planned to open a cell at PACCS for selling vegetables on wholesale rates to grocery shops, mobile vendors and hawkers.
