Effective cold chain panacea for post-harvest losses – OTACCWA

The Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) has harped on the importance of effective cold chains to address Nigeria’s food inflation and post-harvest losses.

The OTACCWA President, Mr Alexander Isong, disclosed this at an interview  in Lagos state.

OTACCWA was established on June 1, 2018, with the objective of promoting and facilitating the development of the cold chain system in West Africa.

Over the years, Post-Harvest Loss has constituted a significant problem and challenge across sub-Saharan Africa with recent studies pegging rates as high as 50 per cent, especially in perishable nutritious foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Isong noted that food inflation in the country was currently driven by waste and post-harvest losses.

“Food inflation is largely driven by supply shortages, wastage, and post-harvest losses.

“The cold chain industry can curb this by ensuring that perishables are adequately preserved, reducing the volume of food lost between harvest and market.

“This would stabilize supply and contribute to more stable prices.

“Government subsidies or public-private partnerships could incentivize cold chain expansion, helping to lower operational costs and make food storage more accessible for farmers and traders,” he said.

Isong called for Federal Government investment to boost the cold chain sector as a major backbone of the Nigerian economy.

“It is imperative the Federal Government invest in cold chain as a backbone of the economy, the country has to be able to store and manage what it produces before it begins to think of ramping up production.

This is because ramping up production without adequate storage leads to more losses.

“Every thriving economy worldwide has a robust cold chain structure, regulations, processes and businesses,” he said.

Isong disclosed that the economy of countries with poor cold chain infrastructure would continue to lag and develop slowly.

“Nigeria has to meet international crop certification standards using cold chain processes with developed Nigerian cold chain regulations and standards which we presently do not have.

“This will enable the country to begin to achieve certification and traceability to allow it export its perishable farm produce to international markets, thereby earning foreign exchange,” Isong said.

NAN / Foluke Ibitomi