Center of Excellence in Post-Harvest Management and Coldchain

• 30 Sep 2022

Why In News?

On September 29, 2022, in Birmingham (UK), Haryana's Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister J. Dr. Sumita Mishra, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department in the presence of P. Dalal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the Government of Haryana with the University of Birmingham for setting up a Center of Excellence in Post-Harvest Management and Cold Chain in the state of Haryana.

Key Points

• It is to be noted that the Agriculture Minister and other officials have gone to Birmingham to participate in the ongoing Cold Chain Summit at Birmingham University on 29th and 30th September and will also visit the institutions associated with the Center of Excellence to be set up in Haryana.
• Minister Jai Prakash Dalal said that this centre of excellence will prove to be a milestone in the field of reducing post-harvest losses, enhancing the knowledge of farmers and other stakeholders, use of environment and farmer friendly technologies and research and development. As a result, diversification towards horticulture will increase greatly in the state.
• Addressing the participants at the Cold Chain Summit, the Agriculture Minister said that Haryana currently has about 7 per cent area under horticulture crops. 393 horticulture clusters, 13 integrated packhouses have been built in the state and 50 other pack houses are under construction. More 500 integrated pack houses will be set up in the coming five years.
• He said that Haryana would be a pioneer state in providing systematic supply chain of fresh fruits and vegetables and connecting farmers directly to the agricultural market. So far, 59 MoUs have been signed by various farmer group organizations with companies in the agriculture sector in the state.
• He said that to strengthen the supply chain, setting up of integrated packhouses, pre-shipment treatment facilities like E-radiation, Vapor Heat Treatment (VHT), Hot Water Dip Treatment (HWDT) etc. need to be created.
• Dr. Sumita Mishra talked about developing a conducive system to promote clean green energy and cold chain system, so that losses from harvesting crops to retail sales can be prevented.
• It is noteworthy that under the able leadership of Chief Minister Manohar Lal, the state government is continuously running welfare schemes in the interest of farmers. Haryana has also launched the Chief Minister's Horticulture Insurance Scheme to make horticulture farmers risk-free.
• In addition, the state government is continuously encouraging farmers to adopt crop diversification to promote horticulture crops.