Minimizing food loss through system of systems approach: resilient comprehensive cold-chains in India
Between 8 to 20% of horticulture produce (equivalent to 156 million USD) is lost in Haryana. This is due to the lack of standard guidelines and protocols, low awareness among stakeholders and farmer communities, absence of financially viable business models, insufficient market connectivity, lack of locally available technicians and strategic planning of infrastructure among others. These losses extends through the entire supply chain underpinning that cold chains are critical infrastructure, vital for a well-functioning society and economy.
The Department of Horticulture, Government of Haryana is leading an initiative to establish a “Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Crop Post-Harvest Management and Cold-chain” (CoE-SPMCC) in Panchkula, Haryana. This centre will have state of the art facilities, lead the development of necessary infrastructure, adoption of best practices and the implementation of affordable, sustainable, resilient, and equitable cooling and farm-to-fork supply chain.
This webinar will discuss about the unique comprehensive initiatives of the CoE to establish sustainable cold chain on a system of systems approach.
Session Lead: Dr. Anant Prakash Shukla
Dr. Anant Prakash Shukla, Lead Expert, United for Efficiency (U4E), Mitigation Branch, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is a seasoned professional with a remarkable 22-year career on energy and environment, climate, sustainable development, heating and cooling, among others. He brings along strong project management skills, international cooperation, stakeholder management, research background, and on-ground implementation and policy development.
Dr. Shukla is leading the strategic planning, development and implementation of the Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Post-harvest Management and Cold Chain (CoE-SPMCC), Haryana. The CoE-SPMCC is jointly being implemented by the Government of Haryana (India), Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom), UNEP, University of Birmingham (UoB) led consortium of six universities.
He has worked with national and international governments, bilateral cooperation in India and abroad on policy and technical aspects. Dr. Shukla has been actively involved in the development and implementation of policy, guidelines and national action plans in the ASEAN, African nations and India in complex scenarios. This was possible through his leadership in managing stakeholders and facilitating a constructive focus group discussions.
He has been involved in the implementation of several national or regional programmes such as super-efficient air-conditioner programme, building energy efficiency programme, Retrofit of Air Conditioning to Improve Indoor Air Quality for Aafety and Efficiency among other. He led the setting up of the sustainable development unit of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), and initiated the study on cold chain with support from European Union among others. Dr. Shukla led the implementation and management of pilot projects focusing both adaptation and mitigation. Some of the projects include Trigeneration in jai Prakash Apex trauma Centre (JPNATC, AIIMS), industrial solar water heating system in pharmaceutical company, solar heating in extreme cold Himalayan region, solar heating/cooling in industrial (food, textile, pharma, etc.) applications among others.
He has published several papers, developed project plans and influenced the formation of policies that promote the adoption of clean energy technologies and environmentally responsible practices. He has travelled internationally, led several workshops, focus group discussions and trained more than 10,000 professionals.
