The influence of infrastructure support on the performance of fruits and vegetables cold chain in Tanzania: A case of Arumeru and Hai districts

Abstract

The study sought to establish the influence of infrastructure support on the performance of the fruits and vegetables cold supply chain in Tanzania. Both Resource-Based Theory (RBT) and Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) were used. The study adopted a convergent parallel design, and a census technique was conducted on 114 fruit and vegetable actors from Arumeru and Hai districts. Additionally, 12 firms were purposefully selected to collect interview data from the same targeted population. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used to analyze data. The findings indicate that transport facilities, storage facilities, and road access have a positive and significant impact on the performance of the fruits and vegetables cold chain. Based on these findings, the study concluded that the unwillingness of the fruit and vegetable actors to use and apply proper cold distribution systems for their post-harvest fruits and vegetables is contributed to by the immaturity of the cold supply chain in Tanzania. The study recommends that fruit and vegetable members preserve the quality of their fresh produce by adopting an appropriate cold distribution system. Moreover, the government should collaborate with fruit and vegetable stakeholders to ensure accessibility of roads, cold storage, and cold transport facilities near fruit and vegetable actors at affordable costs. Furthermore, policymakers should expand their preference for fruit and vegetable actors located in rural areas in their future policies to boost proper usage, reduce post-harvest losses, stabilize prices, and increase the exportation of fresh produce to neighboring countries like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.