Is the service needed often enough?
Measure loads, seasons, routes and required dwell.
Design the service before fixing the cold room.
Map useful demand, compare handling and cooling options, and identify the smallest viable first investment.
Immediate mandate
Map the public and private pipeline, measure capacity-days, test operator economics and issue a first-cluster mandate.Explore the Capacity Calendar
The system question
Where can post-harvest control preserve enough value and sell enough capacity-days to justify investment?
A viable case needs repeatable crop flow, measurable value preservation, accountable operation and a gap that existing or planned facilities will not fill.
Does control preserve commercial value?
Compare handling and cooling against current practice.
Can an operator keep it turning?
Test uptime, maintenance, collections and utilisation.
Does investment fill a real gap?
Verify public, private and announced capacity first.
Current-system baseline
Map the route, public pipeline and useful service gap before designing a network.
Join crop movement, current handling, facilities, announced assets, buyers and payment into one baseline.
Additionality test Proceed only where crop, service, operating or market gaps remain demonstrably unserved.
Production clusters
Seasons, loads and aggregation.
Useful demand beginsCurrent route
Handling, waiting, movement and settlement.
No-new-asset baselineAvailable capacity
Operating status, radius and compatibility.
Capacity actually availablePlanned pipeline
Ownership, timing and intended users.
Future overlapBuyer routes
Windows, acceptance, rejection and payment.
Value at destinationSignature investment instrument
The Capacity Calendar.
Plot seasonal overlap and idle-capacity risk. Illustrative crop bands will be replaced with verified cluster, volume and buyer records.
Planning discipline: field evidence replaces every illustrative crop band.
Six-stage operating sequence
From booking to settlement.
Follow one booked load from intake to accepted product, service fee and settlement.
01 · Receive
Book the load before capacity is promised.
The service begins with crop identity, quantity, arrival window, destination and the treatment the route may require.
Responsible actorBooking lead and node operator
Service or energyWeighment, intake and booking record
Evidence requiredArrival pattern, load truth and named destination
Value questionCan the node sell a useful capacity-day?
Booked-load sequenceBooked intake
Receive stage active.
Evidence campaign
Four linked records test every network response.
One baseline joins flow, condition, capacity and accountability across crops, seasons and sites.
Load and route
Season, cluster, volume, buyer and arrival window.
Time and treatment
Waiting, packaging, temperature, handling and response.
Use and economics
Turns, downtime, energy, labour and net value.
Responsibility and payment
Scheduling, custody, fee, settlement and data ownership.
SellNamed service offerScheduleBooked capacityMaintainUptime and protocolSettleFees and payment
Network alternatives
One baseline. Four responses. Equal appraisal.
Demand, value, operation, lifecycle cost and additionality are assessed on the same terms.
Baseline · Current route
Current practice
Measure handling, waiting, movement, storage and settlement without a new intervention.
- Purpose
- Establish the counterfactual.
A · Handling-led response
Faster, cooler movement
Use shade, crates, grading, scheduling and buyer coordination before adding storage.
- Advance when
- Coordination explains most avoidable loss.
B · Distributed cooling
Small services near production
Serve repeatable crop-specific loads within a limited radius.
- Advance when
- Local delay is material and capacity-days sell.
C · Clustered network
Collection linked to shared nodes
Consolidate local loads into regionally connected treatment and storage.
- Advance when
- Coordination benefits exceed added handoffs.
D · Regional platform
Hub-and-spoke across crops
Combine diverse calendars, confirmed buyers and multi-route dispatch.
- Advance when
- Throughput supports complex operation.
Capacity-day scenario laboratory
Test utilisation before choosing revenue or capital.
Adjust capacity, occupancy, uptime and dwell to expose useful service and idle capacity, then verify the commercial records needed for pricing and finance.
To verifyDesign capacity
To verifyUtilisation case
HeldEconomics for validation
Capacity × days × occupancy × uptime.
Operating window ÷ dwell, adjusted for use.
Capacity still needing another crop or route.
Commercial case held for validationRevenue and capital remain unassigned
Verify tariff, energy, labour, maintenance, transport, rejection, payment delay, farmer value and replacement reserve before selecting a financing response.
Investment gates
Four gates before any asset advances.
Definitions and weights are agreed before scoring, then tested under downside, base and high-utilisation cases.
GateProceed whenPrimary record
Useful demand and value
Repeatable loads and treatment preserve condition, acceptance or price.
Calendar and treatment comparisonProportionate network
The option outperforms current practice and smaller responses.
Equal alternatives appraisalViable operation
Contribution, uptime, staffing, collections and maintenance are credible.
Capacity-day and operator modelAdditional and financeable
The service fills a verified gap and risk allocation is proportionate.
Infrastructure map and financing planCurrent mandateEvidence first Pilot when verified Asset finance later
Build the evidence before the network.
Map useful demand, compare proportionate responses and structure the smallest viable first investment.
- 01Map and measureService gap, loads, condition and payment
- 02Model and compareCapacity-days, lifecycle cost and alternatives
- 03Structure and mandateOperator, finance and smallest viable response
Grant or study funding for mapping, measurement and an open decision record.
Results-linked or concessional capital where bookings and service economics are credible.
Lease, debt, guarantee or procurement only after lifecycle cost and risk allocation are demonstrated.
Evidence notes
Public pipeline: 2025–26 launches, tenders and announcements indicate strong national momentum. They do not prove operating status, utilisation or commercial sustainability; field mapping must verify each facility.
Sustainable-cooling hierarchy: World Bank guidance prioritises demand reduction, efficiency and system-level business models before expanding supply.
Cold-chain constraints: IFC links weak business models, financing, electricity and fragmented routes. Cooling-as-a-service remains one model to test, with mixed reported scaling outcomes.
Capacity case unresolved · Current decision
Test the operating calendar before fixing capital.
Map demand, compare smaller responses and identify the smallest viable first intervention, pilot or no-build outcome.