Cold chain infrastructure, the need of the hour

Highlighting the challenges and the way forward for the Indian cold chain industry and to understand the impact of cold chain systems in doubling farmers’ income, PHD Chamber of Commerce organised the national conference on Future of Cold Chain Infrastructure in India, in New Delhi. Anant Swarup, Joint Secretary (Logistics), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, speaking at the event, said, “It is government vision to double the farmer’s income over the next few years and it is going to happen when we promote agricultural exports. For the first time, Department of Commerce has also issued the agricultural export policy.” He added that due to lack of an integrated approach in the logistics industry, the government was working towards connecting the dots. He also claimed that the country’s shift from cold storage to cold chain was a positive one. Stressing on the view that cold chain was a logistics business and not an infrastructure one, Pawanexh Kohli, CEO, National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD), said, “Cold chain does use very hi-tech infrastructure; it is necessary to have this partnership between infrastructure providers and technology providers, but it has to be implemented by logistics service providers.” Speaking to attendees on hurdles in the sector, Ashish Mohan

Wig, MD, National Horticulture Board, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, said, “The industry is facing several challenges, from lack of quality warehousing infrastructure to connectivity issues. We talk about Skill India, but we are not looking into skilling in the warehousing industry,” he said.