Kashmir Keeps Apples In ‘Coma’ To Make Your Life Healthier: SRINAGAR: Controlled atmosphere storages in Jammu & Kashmir prove a boon for growers. The apples brought from nearby orchards are being put to deep sleep or coma in controlled atmosphere storage facility within 24 hours of their plucking. Stored at 2 degree Celsius temperature, the process cuts oxygen supply to the fruit to stop its ageing process. Technically, the apple slips into coma. Then, as and when required, the apples are brought out from the cold storage facility and thus the oxygen supply resumes. The fruits are then dipped into water, washed, sorted and packed, ready to be transported to various destinations across India and abroad. At present, Lassipora has four such facilities with a storage capacity of around 22,000 tonnes. In two years, this area will have 10 units with 70,000 tonnes of storage capacity, which will make it the largest such facility in South Asia. According to Government data, apple production is estimated at 21.42 lakh tonne in Jammu and Kashmir and 4.12 lakh tonne in Himachal Pradesh during 2012-13. These two States account for over 90 per cent of the country’s total output. Mir Khurram, the young man behind one such facility, HN Agro, says that in Europe nearly 99.5 per cent of the produce is brought to the controlled atmosphere storage, but in India this number is just 0.5 per cent. “In the absence of storage facilities, the growers have no option but to sell the produce immediately, considering the perishable nature of the fruit. This also results in lower price realisation,” he said, adding that nearly 30 per cent of the produce gets wasted in this process. Now, with the controlled atmosphere facility, growers are able to sell their produce as and when they want to, even in off-season. There is no post-crop loss, as there are refrigerated trucks that carry fruits to various destinations. Some facilities also provide a platform for the growers to sell their produce directly to distributors and big stores free of cost. Of course, growers have to pay for the storage facility. For instance, Khurram charges Rs 1.25 a kg a month. Still, such facilities help growers such as Sajjad and Mirwais to earn 1.5 times more than earlier. The State has over 2.8 lakh apple growers. There is another option for apple growers. They can take help in the pre-farming stage, such as in buying seeds and in the farming process to get higher yields. The apple harvesting season is September-October. Apples have a long storage life compared with other fruits as these can be stored for four-eight months after harvesting. The fruits can be kept in cold storage at a temperature of about – 1.1 degree to 0 degree Celsius and 85-90 per cent of relative humidity. Financial aid The apple economy in the State has got a boost through financing facility from State Government-owned J&K Bank. Officials said that the bank’s apple scheme enables financial assistance either at pre-harvest stage for production cost, harvesting stage for picking/packing/ grading, post-harvest stage for marketing or for the entire production and marketing cycle. At the same time, the bank-financed controlled atmosphere units such as Fruit Master Agro Private Limited, Golden Apple, Harshana Naturals and Kachroo Integrated Cold Chain, also get excise duty exemption and income tax benefits from the Government. (Business Line) is.gd/checkads
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 06:26:33 +0000
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