India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) has estimated that India is losing Rs440bn (US$7.3bn) in fruit and vegetable wastage a year.
Speaking at India’s 2014 Logistics Conclave, Apeda’s chairman Santosh Kumar Sarangi said that the annual losses were due to a lack of adequate cold storage and supply chain infrastructure, according to FnB News.
Sarangi said that only 2 per cent of India’s fresh fruit and vegetables were stored in temperature-controlled facilities, compared to 85 per cent in developed economies.
On a brighter note, Sarangi also said that the adoption of modern technology in the states of Jammu and Kashmir over the past few years had led to a decrease in fruit and vegetable wastage, particularly in regards to apple wastage.
