Agric stakeholders tackle post-harvest losses
- Stakeholders in the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors in West Africa are worried about the high rate of post-harvest losses.
Stakeholders in the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors in West Africa are worried about the high rate of post-harvest losses.
They are thus working on cold chain solutions to address the problem.
The stakeholders have thus agreed to meet in Lagos next week to discuss how best to execute the solutions and other relevant ideas.
They said this was aimed at boosting industrial growth and providing employment for the people on the continent, especially the teeming youths.
The Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa said the cold chain solutions to the annual losses would form the crux of discussions, where over 1,530 participants and 20 speakers would converge and fashion the way forward.
The summit which is the second edition in its series billed to hold in Lagos has the theme, ‘Unlocking practical cold chain solutions in Africa’, according to a statement.
The statement which was jointly signed by the President, OTACCWA and Vice President, Dr Augustine Okoruwa and Mr Tunde Okoya, respectively, also disclosed that the summit would provide an ideal platform for quality discussions and interactions involving stakeholders, who would share their many years of experience in the area of cold chain.
Okoya was quoted in the statement as stating that his organisation had observed that one of the major causes of post-harvest losses in the agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors was lack of adequate cold chain facility.
He stated out that cold chain sector should be regarded as an integral part of the economic and agricultural development agenda of Nigeria, if truly “the country is desirable to solve the problem associated with locally produced food.”
According to Okoruwa, the country records an annual loss of at least N9bn post-harvest of perishable foods, of which about 50 per cent is from fruits and vegetables.
He added that with cold chain, there would be sustainable food security and improved nutrition in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa.
He said, “This encompasses perishable commodities, fresh food and vegetables, berry, meat, poultry, sea food and pharmaceutical products that require cold chain like vaccines.”
Expatiating on the importance of the value chain to the economy, Okoya, on his own part, made reference to the recent policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria on restriction of foreign exchange for the importation of milk, saying it would bring about an investment spin-off to the Nigeria’s fledgling economy if the cold chain system was well harnessed.
He said, “There is a need to have a cold chain system in operation right from the farm gate where the milk is obtained, to the aggregation point, where all the milk is collected before sending it to a major processor or packaging company. Even after it has been processed and bottled into tetra packs or bottles, it still must be transported (which could require cold trucks).
“This is why the government must come up with strong policies to salvage the situation. Industry and government policies are made to develop sectors that are perceived to be glitch and such policy (like that of the CBN) at the end of the day have impact of cascading to other sectors. That is why this new CBN policy is a welcome development.” he added.
