<i>Innovative cold storage that needs no power</i>
Potatoes stacked inside the innovative cold storage developed by Dilip Kumar Saha, right, the water layer under the floor that maintains moisture inside the clay-made device.Photo: STAR
A newly devised cold storage made with locally available resources bears bright prospect for preserving perishable items like potato, broccoli and mango for up to six months without using any electricity. Tauhidul Islam Bakul, a resident of Birganj upazila in of Dinajpur, is the mind behind the device while Dilip Kumar Saha, an engineer of Local Government and Engineering Department of Dinajpur, designed the structure for the purpose. Clay, bamboo, water and straw were used for building the 60-foot-long, 30-foot-wide and 9-foot-high structure on 4.5 decimal land at Sujalpur village in Birganj upazila The eye-catching building has clay-made walls, bamboo-made floor and a rooftop with straw and bamboo. Under the floor, a four-foot water layer is used to maintain moisture inside the cold storage. "Frustrated with as power crisis, lack of adequate cold storage and its high maintenance cost, I thought of an alternative storage facility to preserve perishable agricultural products," said Md Tauhidul Islam Bakul, the inventor of the powerless cold storage. The construction works started in April last year and completed in December and it cost him Tk 7 lakh only. "The cold storage has capacity to store 110 tonnes of items. We have already conducted successful test run. We stored potatoes for six months (February to July), broccoli for 28 days and cabbages for 75 days. No problem was reported during the time," said Bakul, pioneer of the project. "Maintenance of air flow and moister inside the cold storage is the key mechanism used to retain oxygen inside. The perishable goods can be stored for long if flow of oxygen and humidity can be managed properly. "Preservation in such a cold storage is much cheaper. Storage of potatoes will cost a farmer Tk 0.86 per kg while it costs Tk 4.5 at power-run cold storages. "I just use two adjust fans inside the cold storage and I have been receiving only Tk 200 monthly electricity bill for the last six months. Bringing some modification can help to get more storage duration here," said Bakul. Fish farming is also possible in the water, he added. Twenty-nine scientists and experts from different organisations including Mymensigh Agriculture University, Hajee Danesh Science and Technology University of Dinajpur, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Dinajpur, Rangpur and Bogra visited the spot on July 5 and expressed their satisfaction over the functioning of the newly devised cold storage. Farmers across the country can be benefited by using the affordable technology for storing their produces, said Anwarul Alam, deputy director of Dinajpur DAE.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments