Details

Technical Note

FOOD COLD CHAIN IN PAKISTAN

Raja Usman Khalid

INDUSTRY : Fast Food

AREA : Production & Operation Management

ORGANIZATION :

LENGTH : 12

LUMS No : 03-872-2021-2

PUBLICATION YEAR : 2021

KEYWORDS:

fresh food, value chains, cold supply chain management

DESCRIPTION:

The agriculture sector contributes 18.5% to Pakistan's gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 38.5% of the national workforce. The sector remains the largest source of foreign revenue earning by serving as a source of raw materials for various industries. However, due to a myriad of reasons, Pakistan has remained unable to exploit the optimum potential of its agriculture sector to date. Despite being an agrarian economy, the country, for instance, imported food items worth US$ 4261.4 million in the fiscal year 2018-2019 (Pakistan Economic Survey, 2018-19). One of the bottlenecks hindering the country from achieving food self-sufficiency remains the absence of an appropriate cold supply chain infrastructure. The cold chain has never been considered an integrated chain of activities but a series of isolated operations. Due to the lack of proper cold chain facilities, Pakistan faces a severe challenge of losing fresh agriculture produce post-harvest. Other contributing factors in the post-harvest losses are inadequate infrastructure, lack of proper packaging, un-mechanised harvesting techniques, and lack of awareness about product handling. This loss of precious merchandise of small-scale farmers (which makes up 64% of total private farms in the country [Agricultural Census, 2010]) also remains one of the prime reasons for the widespread poverty in the village areas. This note is written to explore the challenges faced in developing cold chain infrastructure for perishables in Pakistan with a further intention to help readers understand the fresh produce value chain system and propose ways to improve its sustainably. The note will also comment on the importance and status of the country's food cold chain (FCC), dealing with perishable products such as fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, and seafood.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

This note aims to familiarise students with issues relating to fresh food value chains in Pakistan, particularly in the context of cold supply chain management. The note not only introduces the concept of cold chain management but also highlights the status of related infrastructure in the country and the challenges associated with fresh food chain management.

SUBJECTS COVERED:

Production and Operation Management