| - By Dr. Debashish Sengupta, Associate Professor, Alliance Business School, Bangalore |
| Will India be able to meet the ambitious target of Rs. 1000 Crore of floriculture exports by 2010? This a big question looming large, despite the growing optimism about this sector. The value of floriculture exports has steadily grown over the years (refer to table 1). India's export of floriculture has increased from Rs. 299.41 crore (USD Million 67.63) in 2005-06 to Rs. 649.83 crore (USD Million 144.15) in 2006-07, which is nice progressive development and reflects efforts of agencies like APEDA in making floriculture a thrust sector. But overall this growth is far from being satisfactory, considering the potential our country has in terms of floriculture business. Several reasons are cited for this shortfall: poor infrastructure, average quality of planting material, inferior production technology, unavailability of basic inputs at the right time, lack of cold-storage facilities, lack of proper marketing efforts and so on. Out of all these, one problem which is not only affecting the future of Indian floriculture trade, but also having a negative impact on the present produce and on its marketability is Cold-Chain Management. |
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| Effect of Temperature on Flowers Flowers like other horticultural products are perishable in nature. The vase-life of the flowers decides the marketability both in the domestic as well as in the export market. In a research done, it was found that even 'seemingly small temperature differences can bring about very noticeable flower quality changes.' The experiments revealed that there was a huge negative impact on the vase-life of the flowers with the increase in temperature during transportation and this problem exaggerated with increase in the duration for which the flowers were exposed to such high temperatures (refer to diagram1). In India, owing to inadequate cold-chain management, the postharvest losses are very high. 'No systematic study/survey has been conducted to assess these losses. However, the estimated losses range even up to 40%, depending upon the commodity at various stages.' Often the problem starts from the grower and the rest of the damage is done during transportation and storage. Cut-flowers must be cooled to temperature ranging between 330 F to 410 F without wasting too much time. Higher temperatures not only reduce the vase-life but also increase the respiration-rate, increase the heat production and also increase the damages caused by ethylene. In research done by Fisum G. Celikel and Michael S. Reid (2002) on gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii H. Bolus ex Hook.f. 'Vesuvio' and sunflower (Helianthus annus L.), they found that the 'respiration of cutflowers increased exponentially with increasing storage temperature. Post -Harvest vase life and negative graviotropic bending of the neck of flowers were both strongly affected by simulated transport at higher temperatures. Vase life and stem bending after dry storage showed highly significant linear relationships (negative and positive respectively) with the rate of respiration during storage. The data indicate the importance of maintaining temperatures close to the freezing-point during commercial handling and transport of these important commercial cut-flower crops for maximum vase life.' Proper cold-chain management of flowers is useful in improving their marketability.Cool storage enables quality stems to be held for longer periods before sale and ensures that the flowers still have a good vase life when they reach the market-place. |
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Cold Chain Management
What is a Cold Chain exactly? Cold Chain is a logistic system that provides a series of facilities for maintaining ideal storage conditions for perishables, from the point of production to the point of consumption in the entire chain.
The various components of a cold-chain are :
Procurement and delivery systems
Pre-cooling facilities
Refrigerated vehicles
Chilled Store (Normally for temporary storage)
CA Store (Normally for long term storage)
Grading, sorting and packaging
Warehouses
Information systems
Status of Cold Chain Management
The cold-chain management is perhaps still the biggest glaring-gap in India's agro-logistics. Cold storage facility is there only for 10% of the produce. As per existing reports, over 3,500 existing cold storage warehouses have only around 13 mn ton storage capacity with old storage technology.
Some imminent problems with the cold chain in our country are:
The modern Post harvest management is almost non-existent in our country, except for parts.
Non-existence of world class Integrated Cold Supply Chain across the country - isolated stores without logistics support
The cold storages mainly work on old technology and hence are not that effective.
Cold stores are often used for storing low value products.
Many a time cold storages opt for short duration storages dictated by market imbalances.
Many a time cold storages opt for short duration storages dictated by market imbalances.
There is absence of cold storage facilities at most of the airports. At present only six international airports i.e. New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram have these facilities for perishable cargo. Under such circumstances several hours (sometimes even days) would lapse before the cargo could be loaded to the connecting flight. During this time the cargo would remain under high temperatures and low humidity. The result is very obvious.
Constricted cargo space on flights: Airlines do not prefer to carry cargo which is seasonal, perishable, voluminous yet not in such large quantity. This is the exact nature of floral cargo. Because of the small volume of flowers they mostly have to be transported on regular flights which have limited cargo-space.
Developing an efficient cold-chain: Strategic Advantage for Indian Floriculture The real spirit of the cold chain process is to get the finest products on time, every time, in perfect or precise condition. Appropriate or new technology that can enhance the performance of the cold chain process is no doubt important. However, implementing the right technology is not enough. Cold chain managers must take into consideration that even a minor variation in the temperature can cause damage to the product and maintaining the quality level of the product will be the key. In the times to come, the cold chain will definitely be a strategic competitive advantage, and India has a lot to gain in terms of growth in profits as well as reputation in efficiency and quality in the global floriculture market. The need of the hour is to develop an model which provides a unbroken cold chain to flowers right from the point-of-origin (growers) to the point-of-consumption (customers). Components & major players in the integrated cold chain (refer to Diagram 2)
1)Grower : The grower is a key player in the entire cold chain. Research studies indicate that in many cases the problem may actually start at this point of origin. Specially in a country like India, where the awareness level of the farmers is not very high and considering that commercial flower cultivation has not really caught-up in a big way like cereals and pulses, there seems to be considerable room for extensive extension activities. The manner and the stage at which a flower crop is harvested may be critical in the chain. Similarly awareness and facilities for modern post-harvest management are the need of the hour. 2. Collection Centres : The primary task at the collection centre is pre-cooling to takeoff the field heat. The flowers cannot be and must not be transported in the field condition and are required to be pre-cooled before shifting them onto refrigerated vans/ trucks/ containers. 3. Refrigerated Transport : In case of road transport we have to use refrigerated vans, and in case of rail transport we may use refrigerated containers. In our country, we need both refrigerated vans and containers in adequate quantity, especially at smaller centres and not just in metros. 4. Terminal/Holding Cold Storages : Normally terminal or holding cold storages must have a pre-cooling facility to reduce the quantity of harmful gases and also a humidity optimizing unit to maintain the right level of moisture level. They also have grading, sorting and packaging facilities. The terminal cold storages at Airports also need to be revamped both in terms of capacity and number. Again the focus has to be on relatively smaller airports rather then focusing only on major airports. Only then a truly intensive network can be developed. 5. Air-Cargo : There is a critical need to create adequate cargospace, both on domestic as well as international circuits. Without that both on domestic and primarily on export front we cannot emerge as a floriculture force to reckon-with. I remember listening to a extension-worker from Srinagar airing his concern an International Floriculture Conference way back in 2005. He said that a freight of flowers was lying at Srinagar airport for about a week, since no airline was ready to carry the cargo. His frustration was palpable, since he was actively involved in motivating the farmers there to takeup flower cultivation. Another problem at airports is the enormous handling and loading time that is taken. This has also to be reduced considerably. APEDA's praiseworthy efforts: APEDA is building cold storage facilities at more than a dozen airports in the country. Besides the six international airports which already have cold-storage facilities, more airports will be covered. Bigger airports like Kochi, Kolkata, Guwahati will have elaborate cold storage facilities, including a receiving area for perishable produce, weighing, X-ray, palletization and storage. Smaller airports such as Tiruchirapalli, Srinagar, Jammu and later on Imphal, Dimapur, Agartala - will have refrigerated containers that can store 8- 10 tonnes of perishable products. The facilties may cost the government in excess of Rs. 55 crore but the more is expected to increase the exports of perishable food products by 25% in a year's time. 6. Receiving Airports : Cold storage facilities must also be ensured at receiving airports. In case of shipping cargo, refrigerated cargo container terminals may serve the purpose. Adequate and swift transportation to the markets must also be ensured. 7. Market/Floral Retail Outlets : The cold chain must not be broken even here. Although in India it may not sound so common, internationally even at florist outlets, cold display boxes are there which have regulated temperature and humidity to maintain the freshness of the flowers. The boxes are transparent to ensure display at the same time. One such product is refrigerated display case for flowers and the like. They are open-top, refrigerated case which may be mounted on a cart, booth or the like. The display case includes a plurality of elongated bins placed side by side in a stepped array from an upper bin at the rear of the case to a blower bin at the front of the case. The bins are thus advantageously arranged to provide a best possible display of merchandise within them. At the same time, the stepped arrangement permits a slow flow of refrigerated air as from back of the case, from the upper bin, and forwardly into the lower bin with the cool air cascading over merchandise especially within the lower bin.
The integrated cold chain seeks not only a change in infrastructure but also a change in mindset. The cold chain management in India has to undergo a transformation, both in structure and approach. Let us look through the prism some of the major players and their roles (future) for:
Conclusion
Cost may come as a limitation but research on successful cold chain models in other countries suggests that the cost factor starts wearing off with economies of scale. It is just like getting out of the present vicious circle into a virtuous cycle that we are dreamingoff. So with improvement in cold chain logistics the overall trade (both domestic as well as export) will get a boost, leading to large volumes and improved bottom-lines. The key is to integrate various elements and stakeholders of cold chain management, forge workable partnerships (even public-private partnerships wherever possible) to realize the vision for an efficient and integrated cold chain management for flowers throughout the country. Of course this has to be followed by aggressive marketing, to see that the demand for Indian flowers goes up both in domestic as well as export markets. This would definitely be a very strong and concrete step forward towards our ex-president Dr. Kalam's dream of seeing a blooming floriculture industry but also gradually make India a key player on the global floriculture scene. |
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