Outline of programme

Draft Programme
TIME	SESSION TOPICS
Day 1 (20 March, 2007)
0830 hrs	Registration
0930 hrs	Inaugural Session
0930 hrs	Lamp lighting and Inaugural of the Summit by Chief Guest
0935 hrs	Welcome Address
0940 hrs	Address:
0945 hrs	Address:
0950 hrs	Address:
1005 hrs	Inaugural Address:
1025 hrs	Concluding Remark
1030 hrs	Tea Break
1100 hrs	Session II: Horticulture Cold-Chain in India vis-à-vis Global Scenario
1100 hrs	Opening Address by Session Chairperson:
1105 hrs	Presentations by Lead Speakers “The Global Face of Horticulture Cold Chains” The face of the opportunity – what difference can Cold Chains make? An ideal cold chain environment – what constitutes ideal Cold Chains? Latest trends in horticulture cold chains – what is the future of Cold Chains? The way ahead for India – what steps can take India’s Cold Chain adoption to the next level? “Horticulture Cold Chains – the Indian Context” Retail, export and processing pulls in Indian horticulture Significance of the Cold Chain in response to these pulls Status of and gaps in Cold Chain infrastructure in the country Integrated Cold Chain – the size of the prize and the overall economic impact
1155 hrs	Open Discussion
1225 hrs	Concluding Remark by Session Co-chairperson
1230 hrs	Lunch
1330 hrs	Session III: Workshop Sessions
1330 hrs	Parallel Session III-A: Value Creation by Improving Feasibility and Quality
1330 hrs	Opening Address by Session Chairperson
1335 hrs	Theme Presentation by Lead Speakers Focus: “Using the PPP Model to create mechanisms for viability gap funding” The roads sector has shown the way in using the PPP model to create public infrastructure There is significant learning and knowledge that can be tapped using roads as an example and extending it to other infrastructure sectors like Cold Chain Should India use the pay-per-use model or the dedicated model in creating the Cold Chain infrastructure? What other questions exist? What specific steps can be taken by various stakeholders – government and industry to ensure that the PPP model is successful? “Harnessing the power of existing government subsidies to improve viability gap funding” The central and state governments already provide several subsidies for cold chains directly and indirectly Rural funding agencies and banks also provide some credit relied to those interested in setting up Cold Chain operations Apart from this, there are a host of other schemes related to funding of activities in the rural areas All the above schemes are, however, completely fragmented an non-complementary. There is a need to align these efforts and ensure that they work in concert. What steps need to be taken to ensure this happens? Can this be done using a nodal agency to channelise the funding? Will a PPP route automatically ensure this channelising? “Setting relevant quality benchmarks for all parts of the value chain” Each part of the value chain needs a different form of quality treatment. On field treatment deals with pre-cooling and packing. Collection centres need to be sensitive to temperature control and handling. Pack houses need to look at a variety of operations including stacking / palletisation, storage, processing, ripening and handling for transport Due to the wide range of activities along the chain, there is a need to setup individual best practices and quality benchmarks for each so that expectations of users and capabilities of service providers are aligned How can these benchmarks and processes be evolved? What agencies are best positioned to handle the development and propagation? What mechanism can be put in place to ensure that these benchmarks remain relevant and updated?
1435 hrs	Panel Discussion
1525 hrs	Open Discussion
1610 hrs	Concluding Remark by Session Co-chairperson
1330 hrs	Parallel Session III-B: Promoting Rural Entrepreneurship in Cold Chains through Innovative Support Mechanisms
1335 hrs	Opening Address by Session Chairperson
1410 hrs	Theme Presentation by Lead Speakers Focus: “Human capital development through academia-industry interaction” Well trained and proficient human capital is essential to ensure continued and smooth operation of the Cold Chain and the existing academic structure in India does not cater to this need Academia therefore needs to build a body of knowledge as well as a mechanism to deliver this knowledge. This has been done exceedingly well in foreign countries especially in the US. This body of knowledge will be imported from the developed world in some part but will mostly be developed with India as the context The centres of gravity here are the top agri-universities (for climate controlled behaviour of fruits and vegetables) and the ITI (for technical training on Cold Chain repair, maintenance and operation) To achieve all this, how can all stakeholders especially industry and academia work in concert? “Contextual and practical financing models” The most critical element of the cold chain is pre-cooling which needs to be farm-centric and cannot be handled by the large format cold chain operators The average Indian farmers cannot afford a pre-coolder and therefore requires an aggregator to intervene Due to lack of awareness, know-how and support local entrepreneurs are unable to leverage this lucrative opportunity If the PRI can lend organizational and financial support to these local entrepreneurs then several small pre-cooling operations can be rolled-out across India’s rural landscape The question is – what will the local entrepreneur need to know before he can attempt to undertake this enterprise and what can the PRI do to support the initiative? “Cost effective and reliable power generation through alternative energy” Although power is one of the most significant elements of cost in a Cold Chain there are now power subsidies for cold chain operators serving the horticulture space Further the quality of power is highly questionable in many rural areas where pre-coolers are expected to mushroom in the future Clearly power quality and availability are an area of concern There are few options for harnessing non-conventional sources of energy to fulfill the power requirements of the Cold Chains Can operating subsidies be provided to Cold Chain operators under the ambit of the Rural Energy Commission? Can Cold Chain operations be included under the purview of agriculture activities and be provided power at subsidized rates? Can experiments to use biomass or bio-diesel as a fuel for generating power for rural Cold Chains be explored in an organized and formal manner?
1435 hrs	Panel Discussion
1525 hrs	Open Discussion
1610 hrs	Concluding Remark by Session Co-chairperson
1615 - 1630 hrs	Tea Break
1630 - 1930 hrs	Presentations on Cold Chain Technologies by Exhibitors Exhibition open for Visitors
1930 hrs	Dinner
1930 hrs	End of Day I
TIME	SESSION TOPICS
Day 2 (21 March, 2007)
1000 hrs	Special Session: Policy Forum on Cold Chain
1000 hrs	Opening Address
1005 hrs	Presentation on Outcomes of the Workshops
1015 hrs	Address:
1020 hrs	Address:
1025 hrs	Special Address
1045 hrs	Concluding Remark
1115 - 1130 hrs	Tea Break
1130 - 1330 hrs	Technology Sessions: Business Value Creation through Appropriate Cold Chain Technologies: As a part of the Summit, five Technology Sessions will be organized for creating awareness on types of solutions, different product types, operations and critical elements and economic viability in the areas of Climate Control and Taking and Monitoring Technologies.
1130 hrs	Technology Session I A: Pre-cooling as pre-requisite for Good Cold Chain Practices Technology Session I B: Effective Refrigerated Retail Merchandising
1215 hrs	Technology Session II A: Modern Pack House Practices and Technologies Technology Session II B: State-of-the-art in Refrigerated Transport
1300 hrs	Technology Session III: Tracking and Monitoring in the Cold Chain Supply System
1345 hrs	Lunch
1445 - 1730 hrs	One-to-one meetings with Senior officials from the State Governments Presentations on Cold Chain Technologies by Exhibitors Exhibition open for Visitors