Bhubaneswar: In a novel initiative, the Sundergarh district administration has tied up with a Mumbai-based startup and a local NGO for supplying cooling units to farmers. This innovative product named ‘Subjee Cooler’ or Zero Cooling Chamber can store 100 kg vegetables completely fresh, for a week.
The cooler helps farmers in preserving the vegetables before selling it in the market. The indigenously built Subjee Cooler runs without electricity or solar power. In the first phase, more than 50 coolers have been built by farmers at Balishankara, Kuarmunda and Tangarpali blocks of the district while 50 more are in pipeline, Sundergarh Collector Nikhil Pavan Kalyan informed.
“Sundergarh district administration has signed a tripartite MoU with Mumbai-based Rukart Technologies and a local NGO to facilitate the project. Financial assistance for this initiative is being provided from Periphery Development Fund,” Kalyan added.
Stakeholders in the farming chain and agro markets were badly hit during the lockdown. Issues such as, disruptions in the supply chain of farm produce, and closing down of the local mandis and transport, adversely affected the farmers. Subjee Cooler is a timely and affordable intervention for marginal farmers, the locals said.
The Subjee Cooler is an affordable, no-maintenance vegetable cooler. It works on the principle of evaporative cooling and does not require any utilities. It needs watering at least once a day. “Subjee Cooler has brought smile to the farmers in Sundargarh district,” the Collector noted.