Strategies-on-fruits-and-vegetables-cold-chain-log

StrategiesonFruitsandVegetablesColdChainLogisticsinChinaSongxiaYang,HuazhongLu*,EnliLü,JiamingGuo,JinfengXuCollegeofEngineeringSouthChinaAgriculturalUniversityGuangzhou,Chinae-mail:[e-mail]*HuazhongLuisthecorrespondingauthor.Abstract-Chinaisamassproductioncountryoffruitsandvegetables,andtheoutputranksfirstintheworld.However,thedevelopmentoffruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsisrelativelybackward,whichleadstohighdecayrateandlowcirculation,restrictingthedevelopmentoffruitsandvegetablesindustry.Inthispaper,throughstudyingondomesticfruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogistics,thestatuswassummarized,andthemainproblemswereanalyzed.Thensomestrategieswereputforwardincludingspeedingupinfrastructuresconstructionandtechniquesupgrading,strengtheningtheinformatizationandstandardizationconstruction,boostingthedevelopmentofthethird-partycoldchainlogisticsandsoon,whichprovidedreferencesfordevelopingfruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsinChina.Keywords-fruitsandvegetables;coldchainlogistics;problems;strategiesI.INTRODUCTIONChinaisrichinfruitsandvegetables.VegetablesindustryandfruitsindustryhavebecomethesecondandthethirdlargestindustryofplantingindustryinChina,andChina’soutputoffruitsandvegetablesranksfirstintheworld[1].However,duetoslowdevelopmentoffruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogistics,itwasdifficulttoachievecross-regionandcross-seasonsales,whichgaveriseto“largeoutput,smallsales”anddirectlyrestrictedtheincreaseoffarmer’sincomeandresultedintheproblemsof“outputsacceleratingwithoutincomesincreasing”,“lowincomesofthefarmers”inChinese“ThreeRuralIssues”.Thus,acceleratingthedevelopmentoffruitandvegetablecoldchainlogisticswillmakeimportantsensetothedecreaseoffruitsandvegetableslossandtheincreaseoffarmerincome.Fruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsisaspecialsupplychainthatfruitsandvegetablesmustbekeptintheappropriatelowtemperatureenvironmentinthecourseofprocess,storage,transportation,distributionandretail,soastoguaranteethequalityanddecreasethelossasfaraspossible(themodelisshowninFigure1).Fruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsfollow3Tprinciplesthatcirculationtime,temperatureandtolerancemustachievethespecificrequirementsoffruitsandvegetables.Atthesametime,Fruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsmustsatisfy3Mconditionsthatcoldstoragemeans,methodsandmanagementmustachievecertainrequirements[2].Atpresent,thevegetablescoldchainlogisticsintheUnitedStatesisthemosttypical.Fromharvesttosale,vegetablesarekeptinlowphysiologicaltemperature,formingachainas“pre-cooling---controlledatmosphererefrigeratedstorage---refrigeratedtransportation---refrigeratedwholesale---supermarketrefrigerator---consumerrefrigerator”[3].Figure1.Modeloffruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogistics.II.STATUSOFFRUITSANDVEGETABLESCOLDCHAINLOGISTICSINCHINADuring“TenthFive-Year”and“EleventhFive-Year”,“ModernLogisticsTechnologyResearchandDemonstrationofAgriculturalProducts”waslistedasakeyprojectbyScienceandTechnologyMinistry,andthetechnologyofagricultureproductslogisticshasbeengreatlyimproved[4].“ColdChainLogisticsDevelopmentPlanofAgriculturalProducts”wasfirstlypromulgatedonJuly28,2010.Itplanedtoelevatetheentireagriculturalproductscoldchainlogisticssystemthrough6years’efforts.Inrecentyears,withthedevelopmentofruraleconomy,andtheincreaseofdemandandsupplycapability,fruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticshasbeenpaidmoreattentionandmadefurtherdevelopment.Sofar,fruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticshasbeentakenshapeinChina.Theproportionofcoldchainlogisticsincreasegradually:therateofcoldchaincirculationhasreached5%andtherateofrefrigeratedtransporthasreached15%.Infrastructuresoffruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticshavebeenimprovedgradually.Therewerenearly20000coldstorages,andthetotalcoldstoragecapacitywas8.8milliontons.Therewere1910mechanicallyrefrigeratedtrains,20000mechanicallyrefrigeratedvehicles,andtherefrigeratedshiptonnageof100000tons.Thecoldchainlogisticstechnologyhasgraduallypromoted,andcoldchainlogisticscompanieswerebeingestablished[5].However,fruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsdevelopmentwasstillinitsinfancyandnotperfectinChina.Biglossoccured:fruitsandvegetableslossproportionwasunder5%inthecourseofharvest,transportation,storageandotheraspectsinthedevelopedcountries,whilethelossproportionwasnearly25%to30%inChina[6].Lowproportionexisted:theproportionoffruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticswasover95%inthedevelopedcountries,whilemostofthefruitsandvegetableswerestillincirculationatroomtemperatureinChina.Highcostsremained:accordingtointernationalstandards,thecostsofperishablefoodlogisticsdonotexceed50%ofthetotalcosts,whilethatcost70%inChina[7].III.THEPROBLEMSOFFRUITSANDVEGETABLESCOLDCHAINLOGISTICSINCHINAA.TheInadequateFacilitiesandBackwardSituationinColdChainLogisticsTechniquesInChina,theinfrastructuresofcoldchainlogisticswereseriouslyinshortage,ononehand,thepercapitacoldstoragecapacitywasonly7kilograms,ontheotherhand,therefrigeratedvehiclesmadeuponly0.3%ofallthefreightvehicles.Alltherefrigeratedequipmentswereoutofdateandoutofwork,whiletheinvestmentsofnewcoldchainlogisticsfacilitieswerenotp