The government of the Indian state of Punjab plans to boost its agricultural exports by building five new cold storage packhouses, Punjab Newsline reported.
Agriculture in the state has been increasing steadily over the last few years, yet farmers have so far had little choice but to sell their produce in nearby markets meaning they were missing out on the best possible returns.
Fruit production increased from 830,000 tonnes in 2006/07 to 1.2m tonnes in 2008/09, while vegetable production rose from 2.5m tonnes in 2006/07 to 3.4m tonnes in 2008/09.
The Punjab Agri Export Corporation Ltd (PAGREXCO) set about enlisting the help of government to fund the construction of new packhouses in an effort to boost the state's export capabilities.
They approached the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) with the project, and now their hard work seems to have paid off.
On 8 January PAGREXCO's managing director SK Sandhu and APEDA chairman Asit Tripathyat signed a ‘memorandum of understanding' in New Delhi for the construction of five new packhouses.
APEDA has pledged Rs53.5m for the project, and each packhouse will feature a mechanical grading line, pre-cooling chamber, cold storage, a reefer van and a pick-up van.
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