Challenge
The lack of cold chain storage is a key factor contributing to food waste and limiting smallholder farmer earnings, and many countries in Africa that lack sufficient storage have particularly high levels of food waste. The Food Sustainability Index ranks Senegal 48th and Morocco 51st on a list of 67 countries for food loss. Farmers in these countries must sell fresh produce upon harvest, which often causes a collapse in prices and limits farmer earnings.
Solution and Impact
A DFC technical assistance grant is helping Ifria Cold Chain Development Co. conduct early-stage work on the development of two cold chain anchor warehouses in Agadir, Morocco and Dakar, Senegal.
DFC technical assistance grants can support activities to advance early-stage projects so that they may become eligible for DFC financing. Ifria is seeking DFC financing to build two large cold storage warehouses that would be equipped to store food as well as pharmaceutical products such as vaccines that require refrigeration.
The technical assistance grant to Ifria will cover assessments of incorporating solar power and energy efficiency measures into the warehouses, along with an analysis of integrating storage of both agricultural and pharmaceutical products, and additional environmental and social impact assessments.
In addition to reducing food waste, the warehouses could help improve the distribution of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products in North and West Africa.