The government should facilitate land acquisition in setting up cold chain infrastructure as nearly one third of the country's farm produce is lost because of poor post-harvesting and storage facilities, says a report by research firm KPMG and industry body Assocham.

". . . land acquisition for setting up of such facilities (cold storage) is still a large bottleneck as without government intervention, land cannot be acquired for creation of such facilities because it is an area which falls in the state list," the report said.

India has nearly 21.7 metric tonne of facility whereas it needs over 10 metric tonne more of such capacities, Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said in a statement.

India's export related infrastructure for farm produce is grossly inadequate, especially at seaports and airports, he said, adding that inefficiencies in supply chain lead to huge losses due to wastage or shrinkage of perishable commodities.

More than 30 per cent of produce from the fields is lost to poor post-harvesting facilities and lack of cold chain infrastructure, he said.

The government should, therefore, facilitate land acquisition so that a good number of cold storage facilities are put up near sea and airports to reduce transaction costs, it added.

Image: Cold chain equipment