Cold chain deserves more attention in Bangladesh
Although Bangladesh has a high annual average temperature, a well-structured temperature controlled supply chain is missing here. The delivery of perishable food items and vaccines which have to be stored frozen has been getting exceedingly disrupted due to the paucity.
Once a crop leaves the farm on its journey to the consumer's table, estimated food waste, due to deficient post-harvest practices, can be as much as 40 percent.
The current practices of vaccine transportation violate WHO standards frequently. Monetary loss and health hazards are the detrimental consequences of the lack of awareness. Apart from perishable food items and vaccines, ice-cream and dairy products too require flawless refrigerated transportation and repository.
An integrated cold chain with necessary cold storage facilities at major locations can address all the issues to ensure non-decayed food and vaccine availability. We have estimated that the cold chain market size of Bangladesh may be around USD 1.3 Billion.
The government should be more attentive towards this case, and as per our study (conducted by me and a group of my classmates at Dhaka University's IBA) there are monumental prospects for private investors in this industry.
Rafsan Siddiqui, IBA, Dhaka University
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