Banana ripening centre starts receiving growers’ patronage
The banana ripening centre set up by the Primary
Agricultural Co-operative Credit Society at Varadarajapuram near
Thottiyam has started attracting a large number of banana growers this
season, thanks to high yield and growing awareness.
The
centre, which has been functioning since June 2013, received relatively
poor patronage during the banana season between January and May in
2014, and it did not bring much revenue last year, “However, during the
current season since January this year, the centre has started earning
revenue enabling us to foot the maintenance bill, including power bill,”
said P.Sankar, president of the society. The average quantity of goods
stored at the warehouse now stands at three tonnes against the storage
capacity of 10 tonnes.
The society collects Rs.1,200 a
tonne for storing banana for ripening for two days. The centre had
netted a revenue of around Rs. 54,000 a month this season.
Through
the ripening process at the centre, the shelf life of the fruit is
enhanced and the nutritional content of the fruit also remains intact.
S.Saravanan, secretary of the society, said the society has been
organising sustained awareness campaign among banana cultivators about
the advantages of the centre. About 3,000 acres of land had been brought
under banana in and around Varadarajapuram by 1,500 members of the
society.
The uniform ripening process is achieved at
the chamber as it maintains a steady temperature of 18-21 degree
Celsius. Cold storage facility available at the centre allows banana to
be stored for a maximum of 20 days at a steady temperature of 13 degree
Celsius.
The ripening centre was constructed at an
estimate of Rs.32.14 lakh of which Rs. 28 lakh was contributed by the
National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development and the rest,
Rs.4.14 lakh, by the Tiruchi District Central Cooperative Bank.
Although
it was declared open in June 2013, the ripening process commenced six
months later in January 2014 when the crop was harvested.
Source: The Hindu
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