ShareNigeria needs an additional 50,000 tonnes of cold storage capacity
The President of the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) estimated the cold chain infrastructure required to tackle Nigeria’s annual post-harvest losses evaluated at $9 billion.
IIR estimated that in Africa, 44% of the meat and 24% of the fruit produced for human consumption are lost due to lack of refrigeration [1]. In Nigeria alone, 37% of the agricultural production requiring refrigeration is lost due to inefficient or non-existent cold chains, according to the World Bank and SEforALL [2]. Improving access to refrigeration is a more sustainable solution than investing in large-scale food production, which carries significant energy and environmental costs.
In 2023, the cold chain capacity in Nigeria was estimated at 300,000 cubic metres [3]. According to the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA), Nigeria needs an additional 5,000 refrigerated trucks and 100 cold rooms, each with a capacity of 500 tonnes, to tackle the country’s post-harvest losses evaluated at $9 billion each year [4].
The OTACCWA president highlights the need for awareness campaigns to educate all stakeholders about the importance of cold chain infrastructure in agriculture [4]. For instance, access to funding and investment is hindered because local banks lack understanding of the cold chain sector and its crucial role in reinforcing the country’s food safety.
With the agrifood sector facing climate changes, such as extreme temperatures and high humidity, a comprehensive cold chain infrastructure is a necessity to avoid spoilage as well as health endangering bacterial contamination [4, 5]. As the sector relies on small-scale farmers, the lack of cooperative aggregation makes it difficult to implement large-scale cold chain solutions [4].
The OTACCWA president believes that clear policy direction and regulatory frameworks must be established for cold chain development in Nigeria.
Find out more on the OTACCWA website.
Sources
[1] Sarr J., Toublanc C., Dupont J. L., Guilpart J. The sustainability of the food cold chain. Part 1- the carbon emission savings related to food losses reduction. Proceedings of the 26th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration: Paris, France, August 21-25, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.18462/iir.icr.2023.1172
[2] Nigeria. Food Smart Country Diagnostic. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/1c46d2ca-beeb-5d9c-a90a-fbea8fadb570/content
[3] Efficiency For Access Coalition. March 2023. Assessment of the Cold Chain Market in Nigeria. https://efficiencyforaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/Assessment-of-the-Cold-Chain-Market-in-Nigeria_2023-03-06-153037_xild.pdf