Building a Solar Cold Chain Infrastructure in Africa

Postharvest food losses occur mostly in developing countries where significantly over 50% of the harvested crop is lost and cannot be recovered before it reaches consumers. Poor or non-existent cold chain facilities are the primary cause of these losses. Solar cold chain is certainly one of the practical ways of reducing postharvest losses in Africa. This is especially important given that the cost of electricity is high, unreliable, and not available to many communities. Building a Solar Cold Chain Infrastructure in Africa provides valuable information on solar cold chain, with the 30 chapters addressing pertinent issues of solar cold chain as a renewable energy to reduce postharvest losses and preserve harvested produce.

Key Features:

• Provides an overview of the current status of cold chain activities in developing countries
• Describes successful cold chain management methods augmenting changing climate adaptation strategies and increasing agricultural investment portfolios in production
• Establishes the gaps in cold chain and solutions to overcome these gaps using sustainable and adaptable cold chain systems
• Describes case studies of cold chain management in the developing world