Chennai-based APM Terminal India has bagged CII Cold Chain Awards 2021 for outstanding performance in cold storage, while other awardees include Adani Agri Fresh, Cold Man Warehousing and Distribution, Magnus Farm Fresh, Aimijay Agri Fresh and SK Cold Storage.

Announcing the awards on Thursday, CII said that it has introduced the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) as a separate segment for the awards from this year to encourage this most important segment of the agri supply chain.

Tamil Nadu Banana Producer Company won the award for outstanding performance among the FPOs. At the same time, Vizhuthugal Agricultural Farmers Producer Company, Hunagunda Horticulture FPC, Shri Amaranarayana Horticulture FPC, Amrita Dhara Milk Producer Marketing Cooperative Society and Gaukaran FPC are a few others who also received the awards.

This year, the jury for the awards was chaired by Ashok Dalwai, CEO of National Rainfed Area Authority and co-chaired by Pawanexh Kohli, former CEO of National Centre for Cold Chain Development.

“A well-developed sustainable cold chain network will help in the reduction of wastage, improve value addition, promote crop diversification, ensure better return to the farmers, and also address critical issues of food security and food inflation,” Amrit Lal Meena, special secretary (logistics) in Ministry of Commerce said while addressing a plenary session, organised by CII.

Ensuring delivery through multi-modal logistics is important to strengthen the post-harvest management across all the supply chain touchpoints, said B Thiagarajan, managing director of Blue Star.

P Ravichandran, president of Danfoss Industries, said that an effective cold supply chain would also directly impact the economy. “Refrigerated supply-chain logistics is critical towards achieving sustainable development goals of clean climate and is a key enabler for achieving the 5 trillion-dollar economy,” said Ravichandran, who is also chairman of CII Task Force on Post-Harvest and Logistics.

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