food cold fruits farmers waste india

FoodTechIndia. Public Private Partnership reducing food waste in IndiaFoodTechIndia is reducing food wastage in India through the establishment ofan improved supply and cold chain. * Region: India * Focus: Reduce food waste * Start: 2017 * Public-private partnership, involving 5 project partnersFoodTechIndia FoodTechIndia (FTI) is a public-private initiative combining the strengths ofDutch agro-food companies, knowledge institutes, governmental agencies andtheir Indian counterparts to reduce food wastage in India through theestablishment of an improved supply and cold chain.VIDEOFood waste India’s major challenge is to cope with the growing food consumption demand,increasing food insecurity at a fast pace. Especially considering the countryhas to secure the provision of food and nutrition to 1,3 billion people now,and 1,6 billion people by 2050. 18% of the country’s fruits & vegetables,worth EUR 1,8 billion, goes to waste annually. One of the key components toaddress this challenge is reducing agricultural food wastage along the entirevalue chain: approximately 40% of the country’s fruits and vegetables, worthINR 133 billion (EUR 1,8 billion), goes to waste annually.In India, fruit & vegetable wastage is mainly due to: • Lack of on-farm technology and training; • Inefficient methods of harvesting, packaging and transporting; • Gaps in the cold chain to maintain freshness and quality of produce; • Lack of links to well-organized supply & cold chain: Indian farmers missopportunities to market their fresh produce and increase their incomes.Objective The objective of the project is to reduce food wastage in India through theimplementation of an integrated supply and cold chain infrastructure forfruits and vegetables in the state of Karnataka. Furthermore, the project isfocused on enabling sustainable inclusive economic growth among local smallscale farmers. Envisioned resultsEnvisioned results In order to achieve the objectives, the consortium is focused on realizing thefollowing results: • Enable protected cultivation by setting up 20 polyhouses. • Provide farmers with better farming inputs such as high-quality seeds fromRijk Zwaan • Train the farmers best agronomy practices and reduce the chemical usages. • Develop train-the-trainer programs, train 10.000 farmers and demonstratebest practices to them. • Provide crates to pack the fruits and vegetables at farm level to reducefood losses or wastage. • Build /upgrade collection points /Dc’s near the farmers. • Operate reefer trucks to retain freshness of the produce by BroekmanLogistics. • Create added value to products by sorting, processing and packaging of thefruits & vegetables. • Provide farmers direct market linkages through the retail channels of FutureGroup. • Support with marketing of the products and utilize new sales channels.In support of the project, a demonstration polyhouse is built by Future Groupat the Foodpark in Tumkur to showcase to the farmers as well as other keystakeholders, the future of greenhouse farming with innovative Dutchtechnology.In the mediaCompaniesThe consortium initiated and coordinated by Larive contains the followingsector experts jointly reducing food wastage:• Broekman Logistics: Leading provider of logistic services globally with corebusiness in international freight forwarding, warehousing and distribution. • Future Consumer Limited: Leading retailer with multiple retail formatsspread over India. Future Group is engaged in sourcing, branding, marketingand distribution of FMCG, food and processed food products in urban and ruralIndia. • Rijk Zwaan: One of the top 5 vegetable breeding company with the focus onthe development of high-quality vegetable varieties. • TNO: Independent applied knowledge institute whose expertise will contributeto cold storage and cold logistics solutions • Larive International: A business development advisory firm specialized inassisting companies in developing and implementing their market entry orexpansion strategies in(to) high-growth markets. • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands: The consortium is in closecooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to jointly execute theproject successfully.The strength of the consortium lies in its integral approach (‘chainapproach’) toward fruits & vegetables cultivation, harvesting, logistics,storage, cooling, processing, packaging and distribution to the consumer.