Pankaj Mehta SK Sharma

Managing Director Carrier Transicold India & South Asia Managing Director Global Agrisystem

Reefer trucks have been an important aspect of products like ice cream, meat, pharmaceuticals, etc. Cold chain in India today is at a more advanced and mature stage and seems to be working well. But in agriculture space, linkages and policies are still being formulated. The government is taking lot of initiatives in the form of policy changes, subsidies and incentive, to name a few.

Despite getting subsidy from government there are gaps in the system. The deficiency in farm gate pack-house is evident that there are markets asking for good quality fruits. One of the things to understanding is that cold chain is complex and expensive. Most of the times when we talk about cold chain, the widely used term is wastage and therefore, cold chain is important. But it’s role is more than reducing wastage. For example, if production of any produce in the country increases by 10 per cent, the prices will go down by 60 per cent. It happens because at the time of harvesting, people do not have capacity to hold the produce and they are forced to bring in to the market. Hence, if we have to increase productivity, storage and process infrastructure is a must. It also helps to reaching out to the last consumer. Bringing produce to the prospect consumer is an important aspect. A time will come when processed products will be cheaper than fresh ones and it will require extensive efficient logistics to get distributed easily.