Indian farmers turn to solar-powered fridges to fight food waste

(Context, 1 Dec 2022) As climate change brings more extreme weather to India, sustainable cold storage units help off-grid farms to deal with the heat

For Indian farmer Lalmuankimi Bawitlung, selling her annual orange harvest is often a race against time to beat the heat.

The 38-year-old, who owns a small plot in her village in northeastern India, threw away about a third of her 350 kg (772 pound) crop last year because the fruit became overripe or rotten, and could not be sold.

"I have always been in a hurry to dispose of my oranges at whatever price available, to prevent as much wastage as possible ... (with) the increasing heat making it worse," she said at her home in Kawnzar village in the state of Mizoram.

But Lalmuankimi's prospects are brighter since the state government in January installed a 10-tonne solar-powered cold storage unit for farm produce in the nearby village of Khawzawl.

The facility uses ice battery technology, or thermal energy storage, to convert water into ice within six hours using solar.

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Context, 1 Dec 2022: Indian farmers turn to solar-powered fridges to fight food waste