The Government today approved setting up of a national centre for cold chain development and allocated a one-time grant of Rs 25 crore for its corpus fund.
The decision comes in the wake of post-harvest losses to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore annually in the absence of proper storage facilities.
“The Union Cabinet today gave its ex-post facto approval for registering the National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD) as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 with its Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations,” an official statement said.
It also approved a sum of Rs 25 crore as a one-time grant for setting up a corpus fund for NCCD.
The centre will be run by a 22-member governing council under the chairmanship of a secretary. The members will comprise various government officials, representative from industry bodies like CII, FICCI and stakeholders like growers, cold chain equipment manufacturers, etc, it said.
India — the world’s second largest producer of horticulture products — accounts for 71.5 million tonnes of fruits, 133.7 mt of vegetables and 17.8 mt of other commodities like flowers, spices, coconut, cashew, mushroom, honey, etc.
Post-harvest losses
However, a significant portion of the produce like fruits, vegetables and flowers goes waste due to post-harvest losses in the absence of proper cold storage facilities.
A Parliamentary panel has also pointed out that the post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables are as high as 35 per cent, valuing more than Rs 50,000 crore annually.
Earlier the government had constituted a Task Force on cold chain development to assess the situation. The Task Force had recommended formation of a dedicated institution for promoting cold chain development.