Despite deaths due to hunger, half of India's fruits and vegetables go to waste: Study

New Delhi: As India struggles to overcome the evils of hunger that grips parts of the nation, a study has revealed that approximately half of milk, fruits and vegetables produced in the country gets wasted.

India is the largest producer of milk and second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Despite that, about 40-50% of the output – valued at $440 billion – ends up being wasted.

"India has about 6,300 cold storage facilities with a capacity of 30.11 million tons, which are only able to store about 11 per cent of the country's total perishable produce," said D.S. Rawat, the Assocham Secretary General.

The study highlighted that about 60% of this amount was spread across Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Punjab. The research further said: "The situation is severe in southern part of India due to unavailability of cold storage units, moreover as the climate is far more hot and humid."

The study estimated that the cold chain market in India valued at $167.24 billion in 2016 was projected to reach $234.49 billion by 2020. The cold chain market had grown steadily in the last few years and this trend was projected to continue until 2020.

"Shortage of adequate infrastructure, lack of trained personnel, outdated technology and inconsistent power supply are other major obstacles in the growth of cold chain infrastructure in India," said Rawat.

He said that setting up cold-chain involves higher infrastructure cost.

"Given the expected growth in grocery retail to $847.9 billion by 2020 from $500 billion in 2012, there are some changes expected by the industry as a whole to ensure three significant areas of handling food collection, storage and transportation to be more cost effective for retailer."

(With IANS inputs)