National Centre for Cold Chain Development
With a production of 71.5 million MT of fruits, 133.7 million MT of vegetables and 17.8 million MT of other commodities like flowers, spices, coconut, cashew, mushroom, honey etc, India is the second largest producer of horticultural commodities in the world. However, a significant portion of the produce, particularly perishables like fruits, vegetables, flowers etc. goes waste due to post harvest losses.
In order to address this issue, a Task Force on Cold Chain Development was constituted by Government of India during 2008. The Task Force, in its report, recommended the formation of a dedicated institution for promoting cold chain development in the country. The National Spot Exchange (NSE), in its study on Cold Chain Grid in India (2010), also recommended the need for a robust cold chain infrastructure for reducing the post harvest losses of perishables.
Considering these recommendations, the Government has decided to establish National Centre for Cold Chain (NCCD) as a registered society having membership of all stakeholders in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The NCCD will have a Governing Council (GC) under the Chairmanship of Secretary (A&C) with 22 members, covering Government Officials, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Growers, Cold Chain equipment manufacturers/suppliers etc.
A sum of Rs. 25 crore has been allocated as one time grant for setting up a corpus fund for NCCD.
The expected outcomes of the NCCD are as under:
i) provide an enabling environment for cold chain sector and facilitate private investment for cold chain infrastructure,
ii) narrow down the gap in the supply and value chain from farm to fork involving pre-harvest on farm storage, specialized transport and scientific storage,
iii) address the issues like standards and protocols related to cold chain testing, verification, certification and accreditation as per international standards, and
iv) reduce the gap in skilled human resources required for cold chain sector.
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