Erratic power supply and low voltage are hampering the smooth operations of cold storage facility, destroying a significant amount of the produce.
“My cold storage requires between 380 and 440 voltage to run smoothly but I also take the risk of running it on 370 voltage. This year I never got the required voltage that forced me to shut down my cold storage and take out potato from it,” said Kamrul Alam Chowdhury, owner of Lakshmipur Cold Storage in Lakshmipur district.
He also said the local rural electrification authorities expressed sorrow for not being able to supply required voltage.
"It was not possible for us to store all the potatoes the farmers brought to us for storage,"Chowdhury added.
The sector people said acute voltage shortage is damaging the quality of potato of 271 cold storages across the country.
“Sometimes we cannot run our cold storages due to load shedding and sometimes for low voltage”, said Jasim Uddin, acting president of Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA).
The BCSA recently sent a letter to the government, urging it to ensure smooth power supply to save the industry, but there has been no action yet, Jasim added.
“My cold storage requires between 380 and 440 voltage to run smoothly but I also take the risk of running it on 370 voltage. This year I never got the required voltage that forced me to shut down my cold storage and take out potato from it,” said Kamrul Alam Chowdhury, owner of Lakshmipur Cold Storage in Lakshmipur district.
He also said the local rural electrification authorities expressed sorrow for not being able to supply required voltage.
"It was not possible for us to store all the potatoes the farmers brought to us for storage,"Chowdhury added.
The sector people said acute voltage shortage is damaging the quality of potato of 271 cold storages across the country.
“Sometimes we cannot run our cold storages due to load shedding and sometimes for low voltage”, said Jasim Uddin, acting president of Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA).
The BCSA recently sent a letter to the government, urging it to ensure smooth power supply to save the industry, but there has been no action yet, Jasim added.
This year the government launched a potato campaign to make diversified and increased use of the produce, but the campaign did little to solve the long lasting problems of the farmers and the sector, the businesspeople said.
