The Cold Chain Problem in Africa
Africa’s agricultural productivity is improving, but the lack of cold storage facilities in rural areas causes significant issues, such as high spoilage rates of perishable goods. This situation affects smallholder farmers, leading to lost income and food insecurity.
Cold Chain Issues: Many rural areas lack traditional refrigeration systems, which are costly and need constant power. This leads to spoilage of important products like tomatoes, milk, and fish.
Stirling Cryogenics’ Solution
Stirling Cryogenics, a global leader in cryogenic technology, has developed an autonomous LN₂ plant that runs on Stirling Thermodynamic Cycle, providing cost-effective solutions for remote farms and AI centers with low maintenance. Our technology enhance energy efficiency for sustainable agriculture and support livestock breeding through frozen semen storage for improved genetics.
Established over 70 years ago, we hold a significant market share in the agricultural industry with over 6,000 plants installed worldwide. We provide advanced cryogenic solutions offering a wide-range of liquid nitrogen plants under the brand name StirLIN, ranging from 3 to 50 liters per hour, and provide up to 99.999% purity of LN₂.
Why Liquid Nitrogen? Liquid nitrogen can flash-freeze food, cool containers for vaccines and milk, and facilitate decentralized cold storage in remote areas. This technology significantly reduces spoilage rates.
Real Impact : A pilot project in Uganda in collaboration with an NGO, showed that using a Stirling Cryogenics LN₂ plant reduced banana spoilage from over 35% to under 5%, benefiting local communities.
Scalability and Challenges: Africa’s 33 million smallholder farms could greatly benefit from these cold storage solutions, but success depends on awareness, financing, and local training.
Refrigeration as Rural Empowerment: In rural Africa, cold storage represents control over agricultural produce and access to better markets. As Africa’s population grows, developing decentralized cold chains will be crucial for food security and economic development. With its expertise and innovative cryogenic solutions, Stirling Cryogenics is helping to make the agricultural sector more efficient, sustainable and future-proof.
Head office: Stirling Cryogenics BV
Science Park Eindhoven 5003
5692 EB Son, The Netherlands
T +31 40 26 77 300