The Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) says Nigeria needs 5,000 cold trucks and 100 cold rooms to tackle its N3.5 trillion annual post-harvest losses.

President Alexander Isong told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the country produces approximately 55 million metric tonnes of food annually with 40 per cent of it lost due to poor cold chain infrastructure.

This, he said, translates into an economic loss of over N3.5 trillion annually.

Isong said Nigeria needs 5,000 cold trucks and 100 large cold rooms, with a 500-tonne capacity each, to enhance the country’s cold chain infrastructure.

According to him, Nigeria has small minute cold rooms at the moment. “Nigeria is next to zero, we have very small minute cold rooms that don’t scratch the surface.

The produce that has some cold room is imported fish,” he said. Isong noted that cold chain can play a vital role in combating food insecurity in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, especially harvest-losses.

He said: “If the government’s primary concern is not combating postharvest losses, achieving the goal of completely eradicating food insecurity in Nigeria will indeed be challenging.