The Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) has underscored the critical importance of effective cold chain in addressing Nigeria’s long standing challenges of food inflation and post-harvest losses.
OTACCWA President, Mr. Alexander Isong, noted that post-harvest losses, particularly in perishable items like fresh fruits and vegetables, have been a major issue in sub-Saharan Africa, with rates as high as 50 percent.
Isong explained that food inflation in Nigeria is largely driven by supply shortages, wastage, and post-harvest losses. He highlighted that a well-developed cold chain infrastructure can address these issues by ensuring proper preservation of perishables, reducing food losses between harvest and market, and stabilizing supply. This, in turn, would contribute to more stable food prices.
He advocated for government support, such as subsidies or public-private partnerships, to incentivize cold chain expansion. According to him, this would help reduce operational costs and make cold storage facilities more accessible to farmers and traders.
Isong called on the Federal Government to invest in the cold chain sector as a cornerstone of the Nigerian economy. He stated that without adequate storage facilities, increasing production would lead to even greater losses.
“It is imperative that the Federal Government invest in the 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,” Isong said.
He warned that countries with poor cold chain infrastructure would continue to lag behind in development. According to him, Nigeria must meet international crop certification standards through effective cold chain processes and the development of local regulations and standards. “This will enable the country to begin to achieve certification and traceability to allow it to export its perishable farm produce to international markets, thereby earning foreign exchange,” he added.