From the 6 million tons of fruits and 5.3 million tons of vegetables produced annually, an estimated 1.6 million tons is wasted and amounts to a loss of US$ 522 million. Poor harvesting techniques, rough handling of goods, in adequate transportation, inadequate cold chain infrastructure and poor storage facilities are some of the major reasons for this loss.

The ‘Cold Store’ at Allama Iqbal international airport is one of the initiatives by the Government of the Punjab and a step towards developing a modern post-harvest infrastructure by Punjab AgriMarketing Company (PAMCO). PAMCO has been established by the Government of Punjab for the development of Agriculture sector in Punjab. The facility at Allama Iqbal International Airport will provide high quality cold storage for perishable commodities such as fruits, vegetables and meat for export and for local markets. The cold storage is designed to store multi-products at varying temperatures ranging from plus to minus 20 degrees centigrade with additional facility of a blast chiller. This facility will ultimately result in increasing the per capita income of the farmers by enabling them to shift away from traditional crops to high-value, high density farming.

On December 7, 2009, Lahore Airport Cold Cargo Centre was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Punjab, Mr. Shahbaz Sharif. This facility was handed over to Agility Pakistan (Pvt)  Ltd by PAMCO on a three years operating license as part of a public private partnership initiative of Government of Punjab to involve private sector in public projects. Agility Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd is a leading multinational logistics company with the state of the art technology to manage its operations. Agility is strongly committed to invest its resources in the improvement of supply chain of perishable commodities in Pakistan.

In his speech, the Chief Minister emphasized the role of cold chain infrastructure in reducing post harvest losses and enhancing the role of exports of perishable commodities in economic development of the country. He appreciated the role of PAMCO in establishing this state of the art facility in such a short period of time. He also emphasized the need for Pakistan to capture a sizeable share of the horticulture and Livestock market of the Middle-East.

The inauguration Ceremony was attended by the CEO of PAMCO- Mr. Shoukat Ali and Mr. Moin A. Malik – CEO of Agility Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd along with other senior executives from private sector and senior government functionaries. A symbolic key of cold cargo centre was presented by Chief Minister to CEO of Agility Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd.

PAMCO besides establishing cold stores at various airports across Punjab is working on building packing houses (HACCP certified) at various places close to the major horticultural production areas in Punjab.

Other PAMCO projects in the pipeline are the Mango Packing houses at Rahim Yar Khan and Multan. These packing houses will be equipped with Hot Water Treatment (HWT) and cold store facilities. PAMCO works closely with Agriculture Department, Punjab and Marketing Department, Punjab so as to coordinate efforts and have the maximum impact on the Agribusiness sector of Punjab.