`Vegetables and fruits can be stored easily now! ‘ – ‘Sabzi Coolers’ designed by students for farmers
100 kg of vegetables can be stored in this refrigerator. Not only vegetables but also fruits and flowers can be stored. This system works naturally without any chemicals.
The main problem of the farmers in the sale. Harvested vegetables and fruits are not available at affordable prices as they are sold at available prices. It is very difficult to stockpile when the price is not available or the harvested pods cannot be taken to market. In some areas, refrigerated rooms have been built by governments, but farmers have shown little interest in moving them there. Thus, there was no proper technology to stockpile and sell agricultural products.
In Odisha, Maharashtra, and Telangana, small refrigerators are becoming popular for use by small and marginal farmers. It does not require electricity. No need to buy boxes alone. Once set on the farm it will bear fruit for several days. This is called Subjee Coolers. Especially during the corona curfew, it has been successfully planted in farmers’ gardens.
The sabzi refrigerator was designed by Vikas Ja, Sarayu Kulkarni, and Gunawanth Negade of IIT Bombay. They are currently working together to start a company called Rookart Technologies to bring this refrigerator system across the country.
Vikas Jha, the founder of Roocord Technologies, said: “This low-cost refrigerator is designed for small farmers. This is a boon for farmers who own one acre and two acres. 100 kg of vegetables can be stored in this refrigerator. Not only vegetables but also fruits and flowers can be stored. This system works naturally without any chemicals. I.e. it works in water evaporation mode.
To install this system you must first build a tank using bricks and cement mixture. Set the iron structure inside the tank and close the tank. Let’s put the nitrogen milk inside the tank. Keep the room temperature at 5-15 degrees Celsius.
Similarly, the humidity will be 85-90 percent higher than that outside. To continue these two, 10 liters of water per day should be left in the system. Electricity is usually used to run the refrigerator. It does not require electricity. No rain or sun can change the temperature inside the box. This can be used for long days. We have set up 300 farmers in Odisha, Maharashtra, and Bihar with the help of the government. Boxed vegetables are said to last 5-6 days. They have stockpiled and sold at a good price. ” It costs Rs 45,000 to set up this system. This amount is a bit high but once set it will pay off over many years. Maintenance is also very easy. Easier to use than that. It can hold plastic boxes, baskets, vegetables, and fruits in anything. No longer, vegetables can be easily stocked and sold.
During this pandemic, though every other work can be done through online mode, Agriculture is the only job that can’t be done online. This innovation helps the farmers to store the products which they produced after many months of hard work.
