Challenges

Small landholder farmers have little to no leverage in the agri-supply chain. They don’t have access to reliable and affordable cold storage infrastructure close to their farm that would give them the option to store, pre-cool, or dehydrate their produce. They are compelled to sell their produce in the nearby mandi, which is highly inefficient. Expensive conventional cold storage is inaccessible due to its high cost of electricity and dependence on diesel during electrical outages – 90% of electricity consumption is from cooling and the cost can run as high as $400 per month.   

Solutions

New Leaf Dynamic has developed GreenCHILL™— an environmentally sustainable refrigeration technology that relies on renewable energy sources like dry crop waste,  biogas, biomass pellets, rice husk, biomass pellets and other farm waste. Additionally, it has zero ozone-depleting potential and no global warming potential.    

Innovator plans to deploy 200 units in the next two years. Since the current cost of the systems is high, the organization has partnered with Samunnati and other donors to set up a first loss default guarantee (FLDG) to provide farmer producer organizations with the product at 10% interest.