Bananas Last Longer With Cold Chain Technology

Every third banana on the planet is produced in India. A third of them – nine million tons a year – are produced in Tamil Nadu. For many years, though, high post-harvest losses on the farms were the reason why only around six million tons of the nutritious fruit actually reached consumers.

Since the Danish engineering company Danfoss launched a task force with the Confederation of Indian Industry, things have changed.

The task force was set up to address the challenges of food loss, with a particular focus on bananas. An investigation of the banana supply chain revealed three major issues: a lack of agricultural practices at the pre-harvest stage, poor post-harvest management and a disconnect with the market.

Global cooling expertise

Danfoss used its global cooling expertise to develop two interventions: pre-cooling the newly harvested bananas to extend their life and quality and ripening chambers to keep the bananas at the right temperature on their way to consumers.

Cooling technology reduces banana wastage by almost 20% and doubles the farmers’ income

The introduction of a cooling technology has proven to be a game changer for Indian banana farmers. Not only has it reduced banana wastage by almost 20%. Farmer incomes have also more than doubled.

And, because the bananas keep fresh for longer, the farmers have now started an export adventure to Europe.

The value of knowledge transfer

Before the task force got to work, farmers were not aware of the need for post-harvest care. Their main priority was to increase their production. Today, they are using post-harvest management techniques to reduce losses and get better prices for their crop. The benefits of knowledge transfer are great.

With their cooling technology, Danfoss does not only contribute positively to counteract food loss and waste in the value chain, but also on SDG 2 to ensure safe access to food for all.