With global temperatures and food insecurity both on the rise, governments and private-sector companies are increasingly turning to cold chain infrastructure as a way to reduce post-harvest food loss.
Cold chains are networks of cold storage hubs, refrigerated transport, and monitoring systems, which help to keep food cool as it moves along the supply chain from farm to consumer. But many low- and middle-income countries lack adequate cold chain infrastructure. Although estimates vary, up to 40% of food spoils before it reaches consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, in large part due to lack of cold storage.
As well as contributing to food insecurity and eroding farmers’ incomes, food loss and waste is also a major contributor to greenhouse gas and methane emissions: The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that if food loss were a country, it would be the world’s “third-largest greenhouse gas emitter.”