Innovative Zero Energy Cold Chamber for Small-Scale Farm Households in Bangladesh.

Summary

Bangladesh, a leading producer of tropical fruits and vegetables, faces considerable post-harvest losses due to inadequate storage facilities, poor handling practices, and market inefficiencies. Despite an increase in vegetable production from 1.84 crore tonnes in 2019–20 to 1.97 crore tonnes in 2020–21, approximately 40.2% of fruits and vegetables are wasted annually, severely impacting food security, farmer income, and environmental sustainability. The main causes include improper post-harvest handling, limited cold storage capacity, insufficient transportation infrastructure, and price volatility. Expanding conventional cold storage is financially and operationally unsustainable due to frequent power outages and high energy costs in rural Bangladesh. To mitigate these challenges, the Zero Energy Cool Chamber (ZECC) offers a sustainable, low-cost, and energy-free solution for short-term storage of perishable produce. The objectives of ZECC include extending the shelf life of produce, reduce post-harvest losses, providing an affordable, environmentally friendly storage option, utilizing natural evaporative cooling, promote sustainable practices, and increasing farmer incomes. The ZECC built using the direct evaporation cooling technique and constructed with brick, sand, bamboo, straw, gunny bag etc. During the dry season, it works well. Fruits and vegetables have a longer shelf life when facilities with lower temperatures and higher humidity are combined. It was revealed from the two (2) pilot research results that the method has significantly prolonged the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, reduced spoilage, and enabled farmers to sell their products at more favorable prices. Furthermore, technology’s simplicity promotes rural women’s participation in construction and management, contributing to gender empowerment. ZECC technology represents and accepted by the farmers as viable, eco-friendly cold storage for smallholder farmers. Its widespread adoption could substantially reduce post-harvest losses, enhance food security, improve rural livelihoods, and support climate-resilient agricultural development in Bangladesh and other regions with similar socioeconomic and environmental conditions.