International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and ColdHubs are launching an award winning Cool Transportation project with three 20 tons refrigerated trucks to further introduce refrigerated transportation services to farmers, retailers and wholesalers in the Farin Gada, Muda Lawal and Kasuwan Gwari Markets of Jos, Plateau State, Bauchi, Bauchi State and Gombe, Gombe State respectively to move their fresh fruits and vegetables to Lagos from the North East and North Central states of Nigeria.
There are large gaps in the demand and supply for fresh fruits and vegetables between northern, northeast states and southern states. Interregional cool transportation is critical to maintain a reliable supply chain, but the access to such services remains very limited. Therefore, a large volume of vegetables produced in northern/northeast states are spoiled, and even if transported, many of them use unrefrigerated trucks, which leads to a large portion of products lost.
In this project One truck will cover one market.. In each market, an implementing team is already listing farmers, retailers and wholesalers who handle mainly vegetables and wish to be served with cool transportation to southern states. An insurance provision is also added to the project to mitigate risks perceived by the farmers, retailers and wholesalers.