KATHMANDU, Feb 28: Junar (sweet orange) worth several hundred thousand rupees have gone bad at Ugratara Cold Storage of Amargadhi Municipality Ward 1 as the trader has been unable to sell it in the market.
The 1200 crates of Junar that were brought from farmers from the surrounding villages have been wasted waiting to get reasonable price at market.
The trader brought Junar worth around Rs 500,000 at the rate of Rs 25 per kilogram. According to the trader, the Junar that would normally be stored up to 45 days have gone bad as the storage time was doubled.
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Under normal circumstances, traders used to collect Junar from the farmers in January and sell them by February. However, this year, they had collected the fruit a month earlier in December.
According to Bhatta, chairman of the cold store, the markets in Dhagadi, Mahendranagar, and eastern districts did not respond well to what the company had to offer.
Bhatta started the cold storage business last year and expanded it this year, storing Junar along with potatoes hoping to improve the profit margin and offer more flexibility to farmers.
Bhatta added: “A lack of technical knowledge led us to significant losses.” He further said that the company would take into account the technical aspect as well as quality of the fruit in future.
A reason that could have led to the damage was temperature, about which Bhatta had no idea. “We kept Junar at the same temperature as potatoes, which might have somewhat affected the rate of decomposition. The drawn-out cold climate is also a reason,” Bhatta said.
This year, although the traders’ expectations could not be met, the farmers got good price for their produce, Bhatta claimed.
