Group proffers solution to cold-chain sector challenges
The Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) has proffered workable solutions to the challenges in the cold-chain sector to ensure food security in the country.
The OTACCWA President, Mr Alexander Isong, highlighted the solutions in an interview with the Newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos.
The Newsmen reports that 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 (PHL) 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 highlighted the challenges of the sector as poor infrastructure, epileptic power supply, and high cost of operation, among other factors.
He, however, proffered a multifaceted approach in addressing the challenges.
“The major challenges facing Nigeria’s cold chain industry include inadequate infrastructure, unreliable power supply, high operational costs, and limited technical expertise and very poor funding.
“Addressing these issues requires a multifaceted approach which includes investments in infrastructure development, government incentives, and the adoption of renewable energy solutions to reduce dependency on the unreliable national grid.
“Also, building local expertise through training programmes for technicians and engineers is critical in addressing the sector’s challenges and ensuring food security,” Isong said.
He also restated the need to improve infrastructure and logistics to reduce post-harvest losses in the Nigerian agriculture sector.
“Improving infrastructure and logistics starts with investing in modern cold storage facilities at key agricultural hubs.
“Also, cutting down the cost of refrigeration by applying new disruptive technologies, which the International Finance Cooperation TechEmerge programme supported lots of companies in our ecosystem to achieve will help.
“The TechEmerge programme was successful and these technologies are looking to be scaled up to have an effect on the Nigerian economy and the PHL we currently experience.
“A well-connected cold chain infrastructure from the farm with pre-cooling capacity to market is essential,” the OTACCWA president said.
The expert also noted that “Partnering with logistics providers to integrate real-time monitoring systems can optimise the supply chain, reducing the time produce spends outside cold storage.
“Government policy should also support initiatives to build aggregation centers close to farming communities, allowing rapid cooling of produce (pre-cooling) and cold chain distribution to markets,” he said.
