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Policy should aim to create an environment that enables the uptake of technology, good practices, and improve access to infrastructure, services, and markets that minimize food loss and waste (FLW). According to the 2017 Global Agriculture Productivity Report, reducing loss and waste on a wide scale is dependent largely on government investments in public goods, such as infrastructure. An enabling policy environment that supports private-sector innovation in harvest and storage technologies and stimulates behaviour change by consumers is also vital.

Introducing cold chain/cold storage in a developing country context requires the integration of a great many different elements and the continuing management of those elements. Policy makers in the agriculture, energy, education and food sectors must work together to promote the use of cold chain technology, improve logistics, maintenance, services, infrastructure, education and management skills, and create sustainable markets for the design, use and funding of cold chains for reducing perishable food losses. Unfortunately, most aid donors and grant programs have tended to focus on establishment of stand-alone cold storage or food processing facilities or projects rather than focusing on the longer term management of those investments and the maintenance of an integrated cold chain. 

As an example, the government of India established a separate department, the National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD), to focus on the cold chain development for food loss waste reduction. The sector received substantial government aid including the encouragement of foreign direct investment (FDI), tax exemption and duty-free imports of cold chain equipment to help strengthen cold chain infrastructure, introduce advanced technologies and robust distribution channels. The Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA), established to increase exports and specify standards, also subsidized the construction of large cold storage facilities.