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Stakeholders have said that the adoption of Returnable Plastic Crates (RPCs) for storage and transportation of agricultural produce is a major solution to the country estimated $9 billion food loss.
The stakeholders made this known at a workshop organised by the Postharvest Loss Alliance for Nutrition (PLAN) Nigeria, an initiative of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), in collaboration with Rockefeller Foundation Yieldwise Program-Pyxera Global, GEMS4, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) in Lagos recently.
Augustine Okoruwa, senior project manager, PLAN Nigeria, said the workshop aims to enhance the business opportunities along the agricultural value chain and to deliberate on ways to enlighten stakeholders on the benefits of using RPCs for the transportation of farm produce.
Okoruwa stated that the adoption of RPCs for storage and transporting of agricultural produce across the country will not only help to minimise losses, but also save costs.
He noted that the motive for the use of RPCs was to replace the worrisome use of raffia baskets, which accounts for more than 45 percent of food loss, adding that the initiative will give room for exploring workable models, incentives for lending, leasing and owning RPCs.
He stressed that the RPCs is hygienic and rugged and that it will prevent fruit damage and compression and improves fruit ventilation.
Richard Ogundele, group intervention manager, GEMS4, said that if the plastic crates are properly stacked and arranged traders will be sure of having their produce in good conditions to the market from the point of production.
“If we have a policy that talks about food safety and standard, then there will be need for everybody to adopt the use of plastic crates,” Ogundele said.
“The producers of raffia baskets are not going to lose their businesses, there are other uses into which basket can be used. Moreover the revenue they will probably be parting with is just about 10 percent of their total revenue,” he added.
Victoria Madedor, head-agribusiness, Bank of Industry- Investment and Trust Company Limited, while speaking on the role of the bank in support of the plastic crates, said in the area of cost of production, it is principally about the manufacturer.
Madedor said that the bank is going to support manufacturers of RPCs through funding. “What we at Bank of Industry, can do is to fund the manufacturers of these plastic crates to make it cheaper for agribusinesses,” she said.
Also speaking, Adegboye Adebisi, head-produce inspection unit, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, said the programme is in line with what the state government has in mind as regards changing the face of packaging and haulage of perishable produce in the state.
“We have been advocating since 2013 that the use of raffia basket is not ideal for a mega city like Lagos because the raffia basket do abhor pathogens which are detrimental to human health,” Adebisi said.
“We know that with the use of plastic creates we will be able to conform to standard and internationally acceptable standard of the right way of packaging of perishable produce,” he added.
Josephine Okojie
