THE Sindh Assembly was informed by the agriculture minister on April 29 that 20-30pc of the tomato and guava crops are destroyed owing to lack of cold storage facilities in the province.

And same is the case with other perishable produce. Replying to a member’s question, the minister explained that there is only one public sector cold storage facility in the province, in Karachi, and it cannot meet the requirements of all fruit and vegetable crops. The numerous cold storages in the private sector are quite costly.

He, however, claimed that three cold storages are being constructed in the province to ease the situation.

The issue raised in the provincial legislature is of serious importance for not only Sindh but also the entire country, as virtually no serious effort has been made over the years by those at the helm of affairs in both the federal and the provincial governments to solve it effectively. In fact, they felt no qualms about allowing part of the fruit and vegetable crops go waste, up to 40pc in certain cases, every year.

Officials of the Pakistan Horticulture Development Board say the area under fruit cultivation has shrunk in favour of major crops — wheat, rice, cotton, maize and sugarcane — as the latter yield higher incomes. A big decline in the area under cultivation has been recorded in the case of banana, apple and apricot.

The lack of cold storage facilities is causing estimated losses of 15-20pc of the total milk production. The total capacity meets only about 6pc of the requirement

A recent USAID report says a major hurdle in reducing the crop losses (30-40pc of fruits and vegetables) is the general acceptance of the losses by the officials and the view that nothing needs to be done to reduce them.

A study conducted by the University of Nottingham on the cold storage issue in Pakistan says one of the most important factors contributing to post-harvest losses is the long distances over which perishable produce are transported in open non-refrigerated trucks.

The importance of temperature, handling, hygiene and humidity are not appreciated. While there is some cold chain capacity, much of it is inefficient and expensive due to outdated equipment and infrastructure and is mainly used for apples or potatoes.

The lack of cold storage facilities is causing estimated losses of 15-20pc of the total milk production. The access to cold storage facilities is very limited and the total capacity meets only about 6pc of the requirement. There are hardly any cold storage units at any of the airports or seaports. Besides, much of the data on cold storage capacity is out of date.

The last major study on cold storage was carried out in 2006 by the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board. There is a need to collect primary data to update the national and regional figures. Hence, the study concluded, upgrading and expanding the present facilities is essential to reducing storage expenses and extending the shelf life of the produce. Many more cold stores must be built that have modern grading and packaging facilities.

The chairman of the Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association recently deplored that more than 30pc of the fruits being exported perish before they reach their destination owing to non-availability of cold storage facilities. Several efforts have been made by the association over the years, he says, to draw the government’s attention towards this critical problem, but there has been no response.

While the government collects substantial revenue annually from fruit exports by levying a 0.75pc withholding tax, it fails to spend this money on building cold storages. Horticultural exports of important fruits like mangoes, dates and citrus are worth about $400m.

Vegetables constitute an integral component of the cropping pattern, but the increasing pressure on food and cash crops has limited the area under vegetable cultivation to about 0.62m hectares, which is 3.1pc of the total cropped area.

Vegetable exports have suffered a significant decline in recent years as a consequence of natural disasters and a change in the demand and supply dynamics in foreign markets. The exception was 2010-11, when there was an unprecedented hike in vegetable exports to 426,000 metric tonnes owing to a severe shortage of potatoes in Russia. Pakistan had exported 117,000 tonnes of potatoes to Russia in that year. The figure, however, dropped to roughly 20,000 tonnes in 2011-12.

India has around 6,000 cold storage units that are only able to store about 11pc of the country’s total perishable produce. While 75pc of the facilities (most of which were developed in the 1960s) are mainly suitable for potatoes, only 23pc is available for multi-purpose storage. And potatoes contribute just 20pc of the total cold chain storage revenue.

The lack of a cold chain is particularly acute in the south of the country where there are almost no cold storage units and the climate is hotter and far more humid.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, May 11th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play