By Michael Fisher
PANAJI: No sooner the word got around that a Rs1.2 crores ripening chamber facility is to come up at the Chimbel farm near Merces, fruit traders and exporters are requested the state government to install it near the Dabolim airport for exports to Europe by chartered flights returning empty.
The ripening chamber, adhering to international health standards, was another needed endeavour by the Goa State Horticulture Development Corporation (GSHDC) has been approved by its board of directors and forwarded to the state government for grants.
The Goa residents would finally have bananas and mangoes and various other fruits ripened with safe chemicals instead of health hazard calcium carbide, etheryl and other compounds that are banned but illegally in used.
“The main intention for this internationally approved ripening chamber is to assist the Goan fruit growers in a proper manner especially to ripen bananas and mangoes, and insure healthy fruits to the consumers,” GSHDC officials told the Navhind Times. The state-of-the-art ripening chamber is designed to facilitate handling, ripening, packaging and storing of fruits.
It has been a long-pending demand of residents, who often used to report to doctors with several diseases like mouth ulcers after consuming bananas and mangoes ripened with calcium carbide. But even today, this illegal practice continues, the source alleged.
A distribution network is on the cards to supply fresh healthy and cheaper fruits and vegetables to consumers who are always complaining.
A source from the Goa State Agricultural Marketing Board estimates that 60 to 80 tonnes of bananas are supplied to Goa everyday. The possibility of the bananas being ripened artificially cannot be ruled out.
As part of its future plans, the GHSDC is planning to upgrade its existing 16 tons cold storage and include apples and source fruits and vegetables directly from farmers in Kashmir and other states to bring down the prices.
With the next ripening chamber likely to come up either at Mapusa or Darbolim, fruits and vegetable exporters are approaching the GHSDC to do their packaging and marketing for overseas and domestic markets.
