Fruits and vegetables go waste as Telangana government lacks cold storages

Hyderabad: The Telangana state has been losing nearly Rs 10,000 crore worth of fruits and vegetables every year due to lack of sufficient cold storage facilities. A report by the horticulture department says over 36 lakh metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables perish every year. Of this vegetables alone comprise of 16.50 lakh metric tonnes.  While Telangana State needs 216 cold storage units to meet the production demand, only 56 exist at present, leaving a major portion of vegetable and fruit produce to rot.

The report was presented by the horticulture department at the recent National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign - 2017-18, held from September 19 to 20 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Fruits, vegetables and spices are grown on 26.34 lakh acres in Telangana - 10.87 lakh acres for fruits, 8.68 lakh acres for vegetables, and spices on 6.79 lakh acres. The total fruit production in the state is 47.52 lakh metric tonnes per year. The production of vegetables is 50.01 lakh metric tonnes and spices 13.28 lakh metric tonnes. According to the report, 16.50 lakh metric tonnes of vegetables, 19.50 lakh metric tonnes of vegetables and 3.98 lakh metric tonnes of spices get spoilt every year because of lack of storage facilities.

This wastage is leading to shortage of vegetables and fruits and escalation in prices, imposing unnecessary additional financial burden on consumers. Agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said the agriculture department in coordination with the marketing department has decided to set up cold storages in all districts. The government is also encouraging private players to set up cold storages across the state and offering various subsidies for the purpose.