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ecozenFollowing Up: IIT-KGP Grads Use The Sun to Help 70000 Farmers Keep Their Harvest Fresh

The Better India (July 7, 2021)

Alumni of IIT-Kharagpur have built a cold storage facility named Ecofrost via their startup, Ecozen Solutions. This is a portable facility that offers pre-cooling of fruits, vegetables and flowers to increase their shelf life and reduce transportation costs

Photo (L to R): Devendra Gupta ('10), Vivek Pandey ('12), Prateek Singhal ('11)

We ran another article about Ecozen in 2019. You can access it here.

In Bihar’s Samastipur, farmers grow lychees and sell them in Pune, Maharashtra, located around 2,000 km away. Achieving this feat would require transporting the fruits via flight, with freight charges soaring upto Rs 25-30 per kilo, which makes it an expensive affair for the buyer.

However, farmers like Sudhanshu Kumar have been able to do so at the rate of Rs 12-15 per kilo. This is possible because he stores the harvest in cold storage and transports it via road, thereby reducing the cost by 30-40%, he says.

“The premium quality fruit remains fresh and ready to be consumed. Without cold storage, it’s not possible to reach a wide market, as fruits have a short shelf life, and will spoil,” he tells The Better India.

Like Sudhanshu, there are thousands of farmers across seven Indian states in India who are benefitting from cold storage facilities launched by a Pune-based startup, Ecozen Solutions. The startup ensures last-mile delivery to customers by retaining the nutrition and freshness of farm produce.

Ecozen Solutions was conceived in 2010 by IIT- Kharagpur alumni Devendra Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pandey to offer solar-powered solutions. Initially, the company sold solar solutions such as lanterns, solar rooftops, and residential and LED street lighting, and later moved to offer innovative solar-powered agriculture products such as water pumping solutions. (Read More) (Ecozen Website)