The Centre has accepted a Parliamentary committee’s recommendation to strengthen India’s cold chain and post-harvest infrastructure for perishable commodities, signalling renewed policy focus on reducing supply chain losses and curbing food price volatility. The recommendations include developing modern storage facilities, expanding cold chain infrastructure and adopting technology-driven solutions for crops such as onions and tomatoes, which continue to suffer significant post-harvest losses.
The recommendations form part of the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s 17th report on the Department of Food and Public Distribution, chaired by Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. The committee observed that inadequate storage infrastructure and supply chain bottlenecks remain key contributors to wastage of perishable produce, often resulting in supply disruptions and sharp retail price fluctuations. The government has agreed to implement the recommendations.
The panel highlighted that nearly 5.31% of onions and 8.37% of tomatoes are lost after harvest because of improper handling and inadequate post-harvest management. It called for corrective measures to improve storage capacity, strengthen integrated cold chain networks and deploy technological interventions to preserve quality throughout the supply chain.
According to the government’s action-taken report, efforts to improve scientific storage have already yielded measurable results. The proportion of usable onions after storage increased from around 63% in the 2024-25 season to approximately 72% in 2025-26. Under the Price Stabilisation Fund, onion storage facilities have been established in Nashik and other producing regions to minimise post-harvest losses and improve long-term storage outcomes.
The committee’s recommendations accompanied broader reforms to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement system. It welcomed the digitisation of procurement operations and the rollout of the “One Nation, One MSP” initiative, under which payments are transferred directly to farmers’ Aadhaar-linked bank accounts within 48 hours. However, it also urged the Centre to accelerate the expansion of decentralised procurement so that more states and farmers can participate in the MSP system, a recommendation the government has also accepted.
For India’s logistics and cold chain ecosystem, the acceptance of these recommendations places renewed emphasis on investments in integrated storage, temperature-controlled infrastructure and technology-enabled post-harvest management. Strengthening these capabilities is expected to improve supply chain resilience for perishable commodities while reducing wastage between farms and markets.
