Opening the door to Sustainable Food Systems in Rourkela
In Rourkela, temperatures during April and May can reach up to 50°C. Compounding this, the lack of storage infrastructure leads to the rapid spoilage of fruits and vegetables. With a population of nearly 691,000, it is the third-largest city in Odisha, located about 1,250 kilometres southeast of New Delhi. But in addition to climate and food waste, Rourkela faces another problem: women’s limited access to formal employment.
To address both challenges, the municipal government of Rourkela, in collaboration with the local community, launched a project between 2022 and 2025 centred on solar-powered cold storage facilities managed by women’s cooperatives.
The city currently has five interconnected facilities, spread across different markets and powered by solar energy. Based on sound management, these infrastructures have become community centres where, thanks to the women who run them, agricultural products can be preserved for longer periods, significantly reducing post-harvest losses and allowing farmers to negotiate better prices.
To break down the gender gap in access to the labour market, this initiative has given rise to a whole new economic activity led by women of different ages and educational backgrounds. Such has been its success that it has already achieved a 31% reduction in food waste, in addition to its positive impact on the local economy. In the participating markets, the cooperatives directly sell local and organic products, coordinate the supply of fruits and vegetables to schools, and organise home delivery services using electric rickshaws—all to ensure the population has accessible, fresh, and healthy food.
Through this initiative, Rourkela is making simultaneous progress toward several Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, including zero hunger, quality education, gender equality, affordable and clean energy, reduced inequalities, and responsible production and consumption.
For more information on local innovation: https://sdglocalaction.org/sdg-corner-in-tangier/
For more information on Rourkela: sdglocalaction.org/rourkela-2/