Speakers at a recent forum in Lagos have established that for Nigeria to make progress in its agricultural development, feed the nation, benefit FMCG sector and export produce, relevant stakeholders such as banks, government, farmers and other players in the agricultural value chain should collaborate to ensure the success of Cold Chain industry.
Their argument is that enhancing farmers with facilities to store and refrigerate their produce for sell at local and international markets at the right time will make them and the nation progress in agricultural input.
Cold Chain and preservation of agricultural produce has also become more important at this time conscious eating has become central.
The forum was the second West Africa Cold Chain summit with the theme: ‘Unlocking practical Cold Chain solutions in Africa’ organised by the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa, OTACCWA.
It is also proffered that the Cold Chain industry will assist the nation reduce the annual post-harvest losses estimated at about $9 billion, a development that has frustrated some farmers from venturing into large-scale farming.
Today, Nigeria has closed its borders against importation of certain products such as rice and dairy products to enhance local farmers but stakeholders insist that inconsistent policy in this direction and lack of cold chain to store and sell the local produce by farmers will make government efforts a nullity.
Learning from India, a nation that has well developed cold chain sector which has enhanced the country’s agriculture sector, Anurag Agarwal, the CEO of New Leaf Dynamic Technologies, in New Delhi, India told Nigerians at the forum that the success of unlocking Cold Chain in Africa really means being able to benefit farmers who grow fruits and vegetables. “If the farmers see that they are benefiting from Cold Chain industry, they will produce more. This will assist the nation growth and provide employment”
Anurag said in India, farmers get 50% subsidy for investment in cold chain, they get tax breaks for such investment in cold chain, obtain single digit loan finance in cold chain and enjoy low import tariff for equipment to power cold chain. All these have assisted in the development of cold chain and enhanced farmers’ production.
The incentives by the Indian government, he said are on the realisation that it will be difficult to convert farmers from subsistence to commercial if they are not able to store and appropriate value for their produce.
On examples of how South Africa achieved a relative developed cold chain sector, Neal de Beer, who is director at Innovative Process Solutions, Gauteng, South Africa said his company which is into cold chain building can partner with Nigerian stakeholders on cold chain development in the country
“We have innovative solutions for cold chain. They are modular and expendable. They can be funded and financed with aid from Denmark and Finland. The infrastructure can be built anywhere and it is easy to transport. A farmer can start with small and expand as the need arises to prevent spoilage of agricultural commodities”, he said.
On powering the infrastructure, he said traditionally in sub Saharan Africa and Asia, South America it is electrically powered but in other climes generators can be deployed
Sylvester Adejo of University of Makurdi, Benue State warned that post- harvest losses increases poverty.
Lolo Kadafa of Bank of Industry said the cold chain industry needs to demonstrate deep knowledge of the cold chain industry before funding is considered.
Other speakers who underscored the importance of cold chain in agricultural value chain offered different solutions on how to provide alternative energy to power cold chain industry in view of epileptic public power system.
In his presentation, Tony Tiyou, CEO and Editor in Chief, Renewables in Africa Limited said that understanding the cold chain, setting the project right and feasibility study to understand energy needs and benefits are significant.
Offering solution to energy source, Obiajulu of Asiko Power Limited argued for LPG as reliable energy source to power cold chain. On the cost, he said business owners would prefer consistent power at slight high cost instead of epileptic power at reduced cost.
Speaking to BusinessDay, the vice president of OTACCWA, Tunde Okoya said the organisation was quite satisfied with the interest the forum generated and diverse views from key leaders of thought in the refrigeration industry who shared their experiences on the development of cold chain Nigeria.
He said Cold chain is seen as a sector that is very critical in furthering agricultural sector and the economy.
Daniel Obi
