Rotten bananas in a scorching India expose climate's food cost
bananas to a food market from a few hundred kilometers away. With no refrigeration in his storeroom, a single-day delay in selling the bananas can reduce the value of his stockpile by at least 10%.
When they arrive, he will sort through bushels and inspect the skins for signs of decay.
“There’s a huge loss during summer months if the sales lag,” he said.
This is no small problem for India, where as much as 15% of fruits and vegetables are lost after harvesting, despite still-persistent malnutrition and hunger. The spoiled food comes down largely to poor infrastructure. Most farmers here are small producers who can’t invest heavily in cooling and refrigeration along the supply chain. In addition, India wastes nearly 80 million tons of food at the retail and consumer level, second only to China. As climate changes exacerbates extreme heat, the numbers are likely to worsen in South Asia, one of the most vulnerable regions to rising temperatures.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has modernized much of India’s infrastructure, but farmers say progress in their sector lags others. Though production of grains, fruits and vegetables is increasing, refrigeration is still inadequate across the supply chain. Outside of urban areas, storage, transportation and retail distribution are slowed by India’s rutted roads and the distance between farms and wholesale markets. In turn, spoilage during transit adds to the cost of procurement, pushing up consumer prices — a major concern during India’s election, which wraps up next month.
