Cold Store Crisis

Have you ever wondered what your fruits go through before they reach the vendors you buy from? Who supplies these perfectly ripe fruits and how do they reach our markets? This is the picture from one of the wholesale fruit suppliers in Butwal.

The fruits here are distributed to local vendors across the country including Butwal, Surkhet, Kathmandu and many more.

These large scale AC units shown in the picture are used to control the ripening timing of various fruits such as banana, kiwi, mangoes,etc.

These days, many wholesalers store their fruits in large scale cold stores to extend shelf life and maintain market availability during off-seasons. These facilities often consume large amounts of fuels and regulate generators to keep steady flow of electricity all the time.

Refrigerants used in these cooling systems contribute to greenhouse gas emissions when they leak into the atmosphere.

The fruits then travel hundreds of kilometers by trucks and other vehicles before reaching local vendors.

As a result, these supply systems release emissions that contribute to air pollution and climate change. By the time a ripe fruit reaches our local markets, it pays a long chain of environmental costs that remain invisible to consumers like us.