Telangana gets CoE on cold chain

Hyderabad With an objective of boosting farm exports and preserving farm produce, Telangana government has set up Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain in the State. IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday inaugurated the Telangana CoE to promote food and health security, empower farmers and boost exports.

KTR, while inaugurating the facility at GMR Innovex Campus near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, here said: “The CoE, a first of its kind initiative in India will have state-of-the-art equipment and will serve as a one-stop solution to address all challenges around the cold chain ecosystem in the country. It will develop and demonstrate cooling technologies and solutions that meet the state’s needs and could be scaled up with global reach.”

The CoE is an initiative for promoting sustainable cooling innovation and accelerating the deployment of energy-efficient refrigeration for food and vaccine supply chains across India. Telangana recorded $4-bn worth pharma and vaccine exports which are dependent on an efficient cold chain ecosystem.

Currently, many farmers are unable to sell their perishable produce because they do not have access to cold storage facilities. Hence, the centre will come up with solutions that will help farmers preserve perishable produce and improve the quality of goods.

The Centre of Excellence will have a solutions development lab and demonstration centre, a model pack-house and community cooling hubs. It is expected to have a significant impact on the lives of farmers in Telangana.

The CoE is a joint initiative among Telangana State Trade Promotion Corporation, Centre for Sustainable Cooling (CSC), University of Birmingham, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the GMR group. The State govt and University of Birmingham signed an MoU in 2022.