CIPHET director U S Shivhare signed a memorandum of understanding with C Lalniliana, Directorate of Agriculture (Research & Education), Mizoram. The evaporative cooled room structure is a farm storage solution, which stores 5-7 tonnes of fruits and vegetables. This EC structure requires minimum energy and very low maintenance to operate.

“It maintains a moderate low temperature and sufficiently high relative humidity for storage of fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Dr Shivhare, hoping that it would be very useful for small and medium farmers in Mizoram.

Lalniliana said initially they would construct two-three EC structures. “We will encourage other farmers to adopt this easy and economic solution to check post-harvest losses,” he added.