Nawalparasi, Feb 18: Farmers in west Nawalparasi have been elated with the construction of a cold storage facility in their area for the first time.
The facility with a capacity of 3,000 metric tonnes is constructed at Sunawal at an investment of Rs 210 million. It was built under the leadership of the District Cooperatives Association and with financial contribution of the federal government, local government and the various cooperatives based in the district.
The three-storied facility with separate chambers has been constructed and is in the final stages of operation after preparing the operation guidelines, it is stated. Local farmers are attracted towards the facility and they are also motivated to take to commercial farming now, said Loknath Bhadari of Sunawal-2.
"Now we have the cold storage facility in our locality to store surplus agriculture produce. I am happy," he added. Like Bhandari, many farmers are excited with the operation of the cold storage from this year.
Even the agriculture cooperatives have started growing crops, fruits and vegetables in large area of land.
"It is not possible to build such facility in every market. Therefore, this cold storage facility at Sunawal should be developed into a common storage centre of all farmers," said Bishnu Poudel, the president of the District Cooperatives Association.
According to him, the Association has a plan to implement a programme for increasing the area under cultivation and agriculture production in the district. (RSS)