The Haryana government and the University of Birmingham have entered into a contract to build a centre of excellence for sustainable cold chain management and crop post-harvest management in the state. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Thursday in Birmingham (UK) in the presence of J P Dalal, the Haryana Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and Dr Sumita Misra, the Additional Chief Secretary.
Sumita Misra, the minister of agriculture, and Arjun Singh Saini, the director general of horticulture, are in Birmingham for the September 29–30 Cold Chain Summit. Additionally, they will tour a number of the institutions participating in the creation of this Centre of Excellence. According to Dalal, the establishment of this centre of excellence will mark a turning point in the application of eco- and farmer-friendly technology throughout the supply chain, research and development, and post-harvest loss reduction.
As a result, he said, the State’s diversification in the direction of horticulture will receive a significant boost. In his remarks to the attendees of the Cold Chain Summit on Thursday, Dalal noted that horticulture now accounts for about 7% of the State’s total gross cropped area. The Haryana Government has launched a number of new programmes and initiatives to promote horticultural diversification and boost farmer income. He underlined the need to lower the post-harvest losses, which range from 7% to 18%, he said. He stated that 393 horticultural clusters had been established, 13 integrated pack homes had been built, 50 more were being built, and 500 more integrated pack houses will be built over the course of the following five years.
According to Dalal, Haryana would be the most advanced state in the organised supply chain for fresh fruits and vegetables and in connecting farmers directly with the market. To date, the Farmers Producers Organization has completed 59 memoranda of understanding with agribusinesses. According to Sumita Misra, helping small and marginal farmers is crucial for reducing waste at the farm gate, enhancing their ability to obtain financing for equipment purchases, and facilitating the storage of post-harvest goods through the development of integrated pack houses on farms. She put a lot of effort into creating an ecosystem that would support green energy and cold chain technologies that would stop food from spoiling between harvest and retail.
