Context

Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant (Your VCCA) is a collaboration between the BASE Foundation and Empa, launched in 2021 to make Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) a practical and accessible solution for the agricultural sector. This pioneering model leverages decentralised, solar-powered cold storage facilities to help small-scale farmers and aggregators access affordable cooling solutions. However, establishing CaaS as a norm in agriculture required addressing three key challenges.

• First, cooling companies faced the complex task of determining a daily, per-crate fee that was both affordable for farmers and economically viable for businesses.

• Second, managing decentralised cold rooms brought unique operational difficulties. Unlike centralised facilities designed to store a single type of crop, these rooms needed to accommodate multiple commodities with varying storage requirements. Additionally, tracking inventory for diverse users—ranging from small-scale farmers to larger aggregators—complicated bookkeeping and overall management.

• Thirdly, encouraging adoption in communities unfamiliar with cold storage required overcoming behavioural barriers. Many farmers relied on traditional practices like storing crops in the open, making it necessary to build awareness of cold storage’s benefits and provide targeted training to shift these habits.

To address these challenges, Your VCCA evolved into a robust, three-pillar initiative to confide:

• Helping cooling companies structure their CaaS business model
• Developing Coldtivate, a digital app to monitor inventory and track shelf-life and room operations
• Offering capacity-building programmes to train operators and educate farmers.

In 2024, the project expanded further, integrating buyers into Coldtivate to transform cold rooms into aggregation centres for high-quality produce with trackable shelf-life. Currently piloted in Nigeria, this update shows the potential of Coldtivate to function as an online marketplace, connecting farmers with buyers to guarantee sales while ensuring consumers have access to fresh, well-preserved produce.

The Project

The Your VCCA initiative offers a holistic approach to cooling in the agricultural sector, meeting the varied needs of stakeholders, including farmers, cooling companies, development institutions, and academia. With funding from the ClimateWorks Foundation, Your VCCA is launching an onboarding package, featuring step-by-step guidance for adopting each element of the initiative.

This platform includes a cooling needs assessment tool, which helps determine the most suitable cooling technology based on parameters such as farm sizes, electricity access, weather conditions, and market destinations. Once the appropriate technology is identified, a business model component helps users calculate fair and sustainable pricing structures.

The platform also offers an onboarding package for Coldtivate, guiding companies, cold room operators, farmers, and buyers through its functionalities. Under this project, we will also launch an incubator programme to help cooling companies integrate the open-source Coldtivate code into their apps. Releasing the app code open-source will enable the companies to select the functionalities of Coldtivate most relevant to their operations and integrate them into existing digital solutions that are  familiar to both their staff and operations. Moreover, the incubator will offer comprehensive guidance on adopting and maintaining the app within an open-source framework, ensuring the technology remains accessible and well maintained. The goal is to build a collaborative ecosystem where organisations depend on and contribute to the codebase, driving continuous improvement and long-term sustainability. The app is available in English, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Odia, Gujarati, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and soon Arabic.

Lastly, all capacity-building materials will be made available, including engaging videos for farmers on the benefits of cooling and animated presentations that provide step-by-step guidance for cold room operators on using Coldtivate to effectively manage their facilities.

Expected Impact

Scalability lies at the heart of this initiative. Over the past few years, pilots conducted across 19 cold rooms demonstrated that CaaS and Coldtivate can significantly improve farmers’ livelihoods while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The initiative is now poised to expand globally, working with diverse implementers, geographical regions, and technologies to replicate this success.

The environmental benefit of solar-powered cold rooms is substantial. By replacing diesel generators, a single 3MT cold room can save 19.571 tons of CO₂ annually. Additionally, by minimising food spoilage, these cold rooms reduce emissions linked to crop waste, contributing to an additional 10.6 tons of CO₂e savings annually for preserved fruits and vegetables.

The incubator programme will further drive adoption, with at least three organisations integrating Coldtivate into their operations. A planned virtual outreach event will connect technology providers, financiers, government agencies, and development organisations, amplifying the programme’s reach and ensuring its sustainability.

Through innovative tools, resources, and partnerships, the Your VCCA initiative is creating a scalable, sustainable solution for agricultural cooling that addresses climate change, reduces food loss, and improves livelihoods.