Case study about field trial responses of the zero energy storage system

A low cost 'Zero Energy Cool Chamber (ZECC)' has been developed for storing fruits and vegetables by using passive evaporative mechanism. This paper presents the results of a survey on the farmer's opinion regarding the exploitation of zero energy storage system. This survey was conducted at Mymensingh district of Bangladesh from 2011 to 2012 and it also revealed that most of the farmers sell their produce to the middlemen just after the harvest. Lack of transportation facility, shortage of energy supply and lack of investment on storage, lower price of vegetables during the harvesting season, farmers in the rural areas often sell their products to the middleman or in the local market at low prices. They are not even able to get the return of invested money of cultivating vegetables or fruits. As a result, higher percentage of poverty level remains in farmer's community. They demanded low cost storage system such as zero energy storage system which doesn't require electricity for operating to store their agricultural produces. Agriculture in Bangladesh is the single largest producing sector of the national economy. More than 80% of the total population is engaged in agriculture, 57% of the labor force is engaged in the crop sector which represents about 78% of the value addition in the agricultural sector and more than 50% of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. Bangladesh is blessed with about 90 kinds of vegetables and fruits almost throughout the country and grown all the year round. According to BBS (2011), Bangladesh produced more than 6.279 million tons of fruits and vegetables during 2010-2011. Mymensingh is the northern district of Bangladesh bordered on the north by India and lies between 24°02'03" and 25°25'56" north latitude and