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A Knowledge Centre is also proposed in the hub. This space will be utilized for extension services provided to the farmers, traders, aggregators and others in the catchment area. There will also be rooms for trainings, meetings and conferences which will be rented out. There will be demonstration rooms displaying various modern technologies and best practices in agri-business.

Other facilities proposed here are: ƒ Guest House

ƒ Canteen

ƒ Solid Waste Management Area ƒ DG Room

ƒ Water Supply Facility ƒ Parking Area

9 SPOKE : SINNAR  

The proposed spoke at this location is 28 Kms from Sinnar APMC. Of this connection, an 8 km stretch is a village road

9.1 F

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Major fruits and vegetables grown in the catchment of Sinnar are grape, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower and other vegetables. Vegetables and grape are already being sent to all over the country from Nashik. Grape and vegetables are also exported to Middle East and European countries. At present, Nashik APMC is the major aggregation and dispatch point for vegetables produced in the area, whereas fruits are directly sourced from the farms by the traders.

Focus crops for the proposed facility in Sinnar are grape, tomato and other vegetables. As mentioned earlier, Nashik district has 84 APEDA recognized pack houses, which are mainly used for export of grapes. About 7-8 of these pack houses have big cold storage facilities i.e. 2000 MT or above, while others have only about 50-150 MT cold storage capacity. The pack houses in Nashik have a cumulative capacity to process 1000-1200 MT of grapes per day. While some of the larger pack houses such as Freshtrop have a handling capacity of 60 MT/batch, other pack houses handle 5 – 40 MT/batch. Hence the throughput of the spoke has been designed taking into account the present production in the catchment area, potential for interventions, financial viability of the proposed infrastructure and stakeholders’ consultations.

The estimated annual throughput of the spoke in MT is as follows:

Spoke  Grape  Tomato  Other Vegetables 

Sinnar  5000  4000  5000 

The arrival pattern of the focus crops in the proposed facility shall be according to the crop season as follows:

 Crops  Jan   Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec 

Grape                                   

Tomato                      

Other 

Vegetables                                      As shown above, the facility would receive year round supply of fresh fruit and vegetables and hence, capacity utilization of the facilities would be ensured throughout the year.

9.1.1 Pack House  

The pack house shall have cold chain infrastructure for handling grapes, which is a high value crop and is economically viable to keep in the cold chain. It is assumed that the entire quantity of grape arriving at the pack house will go through the cold chain.

The cold infrastructure has been designed to process and pack 60 MT of produce per day. Facility design complies with EHS regulations and provides segregated amenities by gender. The sub components of the pack house are described in the following sections.

Cold Chain: 

As described earlier, the facilities are modular in nature, four modules of cold chain infrastructure are proposed for grape

ƒ Receiving and holding area.

ƒ Sorting and Grading Area; mechanized conveyor belts as well as static sorting tables. ƒ Inspection and Packaging area – tables standard stainless steel type.

ƒ Weighing and unitization area – certified weighing machines and palletisation equipment.

ƒ Buffer Store (ante room) – holding area for 45 pallets pending pre-cooling.

ƒ Pre-cooler – Forced Air Pre-coolers: capacity 20 MT (4 pre-coolers of 5 MT each), each running 3 batches in 18 hour period. In peak season, more than 60 MT will be pre-cooled daily through these pre-coolers. Pre-cooler size of 5Mt selected to cater to lean periods and to allow faster batch process from line to cooling. Large pre-coolers of 10MT would imply a longer wait for batch preparation and would reduce flexibility in low volume periods.

ƒ Cold Store – 100 MT capacity (4 cold stores of 25 MT each) (daily output plus 40% stock overrun to cater for storing and possible transport delays). The pre-coolers can also be used to supplement contingency storage. Cold Store size can be increased if grapes are intended to be stored locally for seasonal arbitrage (depending on user business plan) in local market.

ƒ Both pre-cooler and cold store refrigeration will cater to 0 to 4 ºC temperatures and Relative Humidity between 80-90%

ƒ Staging Area (Ante Room) – 24 pallets pending dispatch/transport. ƒ Material handling equipment – pallet movers, trolleys.

ƒ Waste disposal systems. ƒ Vehicle waiting areas. ƒ Crate washing system.

ƒ Laboratory – for testing pesticide residue and quality parameter control.

It is expected that the cold chain facility will employ a minimum of 150 persons for handling this volume.

Grape Process flow: 

Shelf life of grape at room temperature is about 7-8 days, which can be increased upto 6-8 weeks if kept in cold chain. Cold chain technology intervention would extend shelf life and produce quality and hence extend the season of grape. Price realization is better during off season due to limited availability.

The process flow for grape handled through cold chain in the pack house is illustrated:

Technology  / Facilities  Description  Grading &  Packaging   • Manual method of grading and packaging.  

• Generally  packed  in  cardboard  boxes  (9  ‐10  kg),  panets  (9  kg)  or  pouches  (4  or  5  kg)  for  export markets.   • For domestic market, packed in 4‐5kg of CFB boxes and plastic crates of 20 kgs.   Pre‐cooling   • Pre‐cooled for export and sometimes for domestic market.   • Forced Air method of pre‐cooling is used in general for grapes    • Temp: 1‐2 ºC,  RH – 80 to 85%  • Duration: within 6‐8 hours of harvest   Cold  Storage   • Pre‐cooled and graded grapes are kept in Cold Storages.   • Cold Storage requirement  • Temp: 1 ºC, RH: 85‐90%   • Storage period: maximum 5 days for export, 3‐8 weeks for domestic   Reefer  Transport   • Reefer transportation is used for export, temperature is set for 1 o C.   • In Reefer (8 MT) and non Reefer trucks (9 MT) for domestic market.  

Others   • After  Pre‐cooling,  cartons  containing  grapes  are  wrapped  in  polythene  sheet  along  with  grape guard (SO2 releasing pads) for fungal control.  

Bulk storage is recommended closer to consumption markets and thus the last leg of transport to retail centres is at a minimal.

9.1.2 Pack Shed ‐Ambient 

The ambient infrastructure will cater to tomato and other vegetables, since margins in these crops are relatively low. Also, tomato and other vegetables are grown all over the country and additional cost incurred on cold chain makes the produce non-competitive in distant markets. The ambient pack shed has been designed to handle 50 MT of produce per day. The sub components of the pack shed are as listed below;

ƒ Covered Pack shed (open to ambient) with landing area.

ƒ Requisite weighing equipment and transaction recording arrangement. ƒ Sorting and grading areas (with tables).

ƒ Packaging store and Packing tables.

ƒ Waste disposal systems (common to both cold chain and ambient). ƒ Vehicle parking areas (common to both cold chain and ambient). ƒ Crate washing system (common to both cold chain and ambient).

Process flow in Pack Shed: 

Aggregation Mechanism 

The pack house/pack shed will establish direct relationship with farmers and provide extension and training support to them for best farming practices, better post harvest handling practices, efficient use of inputs and technology transfer etc. The pack house/pack shed will develop aggregation mechanism and send trucks/pick-ups to the aggregation points. Farmers will be encouraged to come together as producer companies and set up and manage aggregation points wherever possible. Pack house/pack shed may also invest in developing infrastructure at aggregation points such as platforms, sheds, etc.

Logistics  

The produce will come to the spoke from aggregation points and farms in various modes of transport such as trucks (4 MT), vans, etc. Expected peak arrival of vehicles is about 38, which would include following approximate number of vehicles;

ƒ Grapes: 12

ƒ Tomato & other vegetables: 16 ƒ Onion: 10

The above number would translate into 12 out-going vehicles at peak, of which 6 vehicles would be refrigerated and would be utilized for grape transportation

Small capacity field vehicles, load 800kgs to 1MT, are incorporated in the project to serve as feeders from local farms or aggregation points as backward integration. These vehicles can be with insulated body deploying pre-cooled chill packs. This is foreseen to increase field reach, hence enhancing catchment range. Wherever possible, thermal blankets can be used to cover the grapes when travelling from field to pack-house, providing protection from direct sunlight.

9.1.3 Ambient Onion Stores 

Separate facilities for onion storage are proposed to be part of the facility. Onion stores of 500 MT capacities would be set up. This would be kept as a separate section in the facility to prevent odour contamination in other areas.

These storehouses would be constructed as per existing guidelines for storage of dry onions, incorporating enclosures that allow ventilation while protecting from overhead inclement weather. The roof would be extended to protect from driving rain while protecting from direct sunlight, boundary walls of mesh material protecting the produce from rodents while allowing adequate ventilation. The base platform would be raised to truck-bed height easing loading and unloading operations.

9.1.4 Other Facilities