RAJSHAHI, Mar 08 (BSS): Natural cold storage is an effective means of long-term preservation of vegetables and some other seasonal fruits and green spices like garlic and green chilli in an organic way and its prospect is very much bright in the agro-based area.
An environment-friendly cold storage with 300 tonnes capacity was launched in Bhadra area in Rajshahi city for the first time in Bangladesh in December, 2014 at a cost of around Tk 1.4 million.
Its performance is very much optimistic, said Prof Dr Monzur Hossain, director of the natural cold storage project.
During the trial period since July 2016, potato, onion, ginger, carrot, tomato, mango and other vegetables were conserved in the cold storage.
"We have found good results for potato, onion and ginger preservation. Potatoes and onions were preserved for four months", says Prof Hossain.
Another Tk 2.0 million new research project was adopted in order to preserve tomato, carrot, mango and some other fruits side by side with the leafy vegetables for three to six months without using any chemicals.
Prof Monzur Hossain, director of Institute of Biological Science in Rajshahi University, said the cold storage has been designed to facilitate the grassroots level farmers in Bangladesh.
He said no electricity is required to run this cold storage. Instead the natural storage will preserve the agricultural produce through the process of vaporisation.
To help the farmers preserve perishable items such as potato, tomato, onion, and ginger at cheaper rates, the natural cold storage which uses green technology has been set up in Namo Bhadra area in Rajshahi city.
The 60 feet-long and 30 feet wide rectangular storage is made of bricks, cement and bamboos where 300 tonnes of produce can be preserved.
The vital part of the storage is the two parallel walls. The inner wall is made of brick and cement and the outer wall is constructed with concrete blocks and bricks. The gap between the two walls is three inches that is filled with sand.
To allow sunlight inside the storage, there are two windows made of glass in the upper part of the storage. Four solar panels of 110 watt have also been set up to generate electricity to light the storage.
