In India higher temperatures arrive earlier and stay longer. The month of March 2022 was the hottest ever recorded. As temperatures rise in India so will the demand for cooling. India’s agriculture sector’s employment share stands at 48% while contributing nearly 14.4% to its GDP. The high temperatures are likely to exacerbate the vulnerability of the sector impacting India’s food security. Hence, a strengthening of the cold chain network is key to India’s food security. Currently only 4% of fresh produce is covered by the existing cold chain network.
To this end, a study has been done by EESL and the CECP project on how a more sustainable and energy efficient end-to-end cold chain network could be supported. This study provides some useful recommendations on how to bridge in the short and longer term the existing infrastructure gaps in India's cold chain sector.