Work begins on small onion grading godown in Trichy

In a  welcome initiative, the government kicked off the process of building grading godown for small onions, aimed at helping farmers registered under the National Entrepreneurship Development Board (NEDB) scheme.
The warehouse, proposed to be built by Chinthamani Cooperative Society with NEDB fund, will have a capacity of 2000 tonne and is expected to be beneficial for farmers from Thuraiyur and Chettikulam in Perambalur district. Onion growers said it would be really helpful for farmers at Perambalur district many have been suffering huge losses for want of post-harvest handling facilities.


Though the district is known for producing 70,000 tonnes of small onions a year on 8,000-hectare land, farmers mostly find it hard to up push up their income without having any value addition method. The move comes from a line of measures being taken by the government to manage the rising input cost, unpredictable weather and disease farmers mostly suffer.
"A godown for grading the crop at Thuraiyur in Trichy district nearest to Chettikulam - where farmers cultivating small onion in hundreds of acres, in Perambalur district, will be highly beneficial, said KC Ravichandran, joint registrar of cooperatives.
"The main objective of the NEDB is a promotion of entrepreneurship for encouraging self-employment in small scale industries and small business. Construction of a grading godown at the primary collection centre is in progress at Thuraiyur, with a capacity of handling 2000 metric tonne", he said.

Under process is a construction of another building in the same region. Facilities would be set up to handle and store peeled onion. This would be utilised for preparing value-added products such as flacks, paste, among other, an official said.

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