By Andrew Perks
Every year GCCA Africa presents its conference in South Africa. It is an interesting forum where major players in the cold chain industry meet to network and discuss trends and future issues.
 |
Andrew Perks is a subject expert in ammonia refrigeration. Since undertaking his apprenticeship in Glasgow in the 1960s he has held positions of contracts engineer, project engineer, refrigeration design engineer, company director for a refrigeration contracting company and eventually owning his own contracting company and low temperature cold store. He is now involved in adding skills to the ammonia industry, is merSETA accredited and has written a variety of unit standards for SAQA that define the levels to be achieved in training in our industry. |
There was a whole load of statistics which could make your head spin. The one that should interest us greatly is food waste, especially in Africa. We need to invest in supplying this food waste to the worldwide market. With the right approach and commitment, Africa could become the breadbasket of the world.
The world population is still expanding at a rate and is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, of which 68% is expected to be urbanised. These guys are going to need feeding. With people moving off the land there will need to be a more productive industry with a more efficient cold chain to process, transport and distribute foodstuff. Currently we are looking at a waste level of between 30 to 40% due to a lack of an efficient cold chain. This revolves around the need for reliable electricity, better road transport conditions, access to cooling systems and training. An effective cold chain will play a major role in food security and economic growth for the region.
GCCA and its members believe that the cold chain story in Africa is one of reliance and innovation in parts, but overall, it’s a story of unfulfilled potential. This is what must and will change to deliver the foundation of growth and prosperity that the continent deserves. There is a new awareness of the importance of cold chain logistics across the world post Covid-19.
GCCA is a major player in bringing together stake holders in the industry, but they cannot solve the problem alone. It was quoted “Hillary did not climb Mount Everest alone”, he had lots of help. We need to network with governments and industry. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement provides the foundation for a transformation of the African economy. It will shape the future of the African cold chain by increasing exports of temperature-controlled products between countries, urban centres and communities within Africa. The cold chain can be the arteries of the renewed life system of the African economy, however, as you can imagine there are major stumbling blocks that need to be overcome.
One of the areas that was discussed at length was AgriCULTURE. No, I have not spelt it wrong the CULTURE part of the word is the prime reference. A new culture needs to be developed where we are looking at agriculture and developing ways and means of improving efficiencies, improving yields and minimising loss. This brings me straight back to my favourite topic: ammonia. How many of you know that ammonia is injected straight into the soil to act as a fertiliser. Well, it is.
Ammonia’s chemical composition is NH3. That’s 1 particle of nitrogen and 3 particles of hydrogen. Yes, smelly old ammonia has lots of applications. When injected into the soil the nitrogen acts as a fertiliser. Ammonia Safety and Training Institute (ASTI) believes that up to 48% of the world’s population is fed due to the impact of ammonia increasing the world’s agricultural productivity.
Think about it, ammonia can be used as a fertiliser to increase food production and as an energy source to reduce the impact of fossil fuels on the world’s environment. I know you are going to say that the carbon impact of producing ammonia is a major player but with the new procedure of synthesising it using only air, water and renewable energy, Green Ammonia is a major player in the energy field.
The food system, including agriculture, is the dominant source of employment for people across Africa, especially women. Cold-chain advancement will have a direct impact on hundreds of millions of lives bringing work while delivering food to the table. We all need to get behind this initiative.