Title	Advisory support & Capacity Building to review the 20nos Cold storage Business/Business Model to make a profitable venture
Timeline	03 Months
Expected area of expertise	Agri Business /Agri logistics/ Agri Infrastructure Knowledge Team in Site Assessment and Problem statement Agri Market linkages, Documentation and Report Making
Email and website	https://forms.gle/ghFByMgJdiLjZ4jv9  (Contact Procurement for Form Link)
Last Date of Application	26th December, 2024

About SELCO Foundation:

SELCO Foundation's mission is to create a platform of solutions that uses sustainable energy as a catalyst to link environmental sustainability and poverty alleviation. With holistic development as the primary focus, the organization strives to create equitable societies where all communities have access to essential services. SELCO Foundation's Agri & Allied program focuses on empowering farmers and rural communities through sustainable agriculture practices, thereby creating an impact in terms of improved energy-efficient technology, increased crop yields, enhanced livelihoods, and reduced carbon footprint. To know more about SELCO Foundation, visit www.selcofoundation.org.

Summary of the project:

In India, post-harvest losses amount to INR 1,52,970 Crores annually, highlighting the need for effective solutions. Reducing these losses is vital for improving food security, enhancing farmers' incomes, and reducing environmental waste. Cooling infrastructure, such as cold storage, plays a crucial role in extending the shelf life of perishable crops and preventing spoilage. By implementing efficient cooling systems at the farm gate, farmers can maintain the freshness of their produce, reduce waste, and ensure that their crops reach the market in optimal condition, ultimately enabling them to secure better prices for their harvest.

Recognizing the challenges posed by post-harvest losses, which have significant environmental and economic consequences, the SELCO Foundation emphasizes the importance of cooling infrastructure at the farm gate level. To help tackle key issues such as the perishability of produce and price fluctuations, SELCO Foundation supported the installation of solar-powered cold storage systems across 15 states. This initiative is designed to help farmers preserve the quality of their crops and reduce losses.

As of now nearly 127 units of Solar powered cold storages have been implemented with various partners across 15 states. Out of which some are needed to reorient their strategy and Business models to become viable. The proposal seeks assess the status on utilization, ongoing business models, market linkage to design tailored training solution. Through this, we intend to provide Agricultural Extension Services, including training and advisory support to farmers on cold storage, post-harvest management, and techniques to improve the quality, storage, and marketability of agricultural produce. Going ahead with the program, we look forward to carry out such activities with 20 units of Solar powered cold storages – their functioning and utilization pattern, in order to bring improvement in productivity levels, efficiency and value for the farmers by providing proper training and support on market linkage as per the end users requirement.

The program proposes to address the issues the end users are facing and to make every cold storage a profitable venture. It aims to identify the problem statement for the underperformance, develop a strategy for enhancing utilization and provide training to the end user or the group concerned and to support the end user with the market linkage (identifying the stakeholders in the vicinity, connecting with stakeholders to the end user and promotional activities).

To further engage stakeholders and ensure effective collaboration, SELCO Foundation is in the process of onboarding a consultant for the “Training and Advisory support to farmers on cold storages, post-harvest management and marketability to make them a profitable venture”.

Goals and Objectives Goal

• To make the existing cold storage units work efficiently,
• To increase the utilization level of the existing cold storages.
• To develop them into Profitable ventures, so that the affordability for the technology increases and this reduces the post-harvest losses

Objective

The program seeks to make all the 20 cold storages selected to be profitable ventures. It seeks to conduct a detailed assessment of the cold storages, identify the bottlenecks & problem statement for the underperformance (unique to each and every site), develop a detailed strategy for enhancing utilization, develop the training content and provide training to the end user or the group concerned and to support for the market linkage activities mainly identifying the existing stakeholders in the vicinity, connecting stakeholders to the end user and supporting for promotional activities etc.

Scope of Work

Cold storages were implemented with various partners and various ownership models like few are with individual farmers, FPO’s, FPC’s, FIG’s, SHG’s etc. This activity involves conducting a detailed analysis of the site and identifying the bottlenecks, reasons for underperformance, develop a detailed strategy (unique to each site) for enhancing utilization by considering the ownership model, develop training content suitable to the site based on detailed assessment and provide training on both tech and non tech aspects to the end users or the groups concerned.

The program expects the agency to support the end users in terms of market linkage activities like identifying the stakeholders in the locality, connect potential stakeholders to the end user, this helps to enhance utilization and help them in promotional activities.

Providing training on enhancing utilization and making every site a profitable venture will have multi fold benefits to the small and marginal farmers in the locality.

To apply

Interested individuals, with relevant experience (please include portfolio and links of relevant work) are requested to reach out with a Statement of Purpose giving a brief on how the opportunity aligns with their goals, including budgets (with break-ups and explanation), timelines and milestones and submit the same to the google form https://forms.gle/ghFByMgJdiLjZ4jv9 on before 26th December, 2024.

Any further queries please write to procurement@selcofoundation.org with a subject line: Onboarding Consultant for “Advisory support &Capacity Building to review the Cold storage Business/Business Model to make them a profitable venture”

To download the full ToR, click here

Tags Environment and Sustainability Livelihood Smart City and Urban Issues Solar Energy Others