Year: 2022 | Month: December | Volume 67 | Issue 5

Estimation of Post-harvest Losses and their Management Strategies Adopted by the Vegetable Cultivators

Manohar B.H. Balachandra K Naik Vilas S. Kulkarni B.N. Aravind Kumar Venugopal C.K.
DOI:10.46852/0424-2513.5.2022.3

Abstract:

The present study estimated the post-harvest management of selected vegetables in Karnataka. The study was based on primary data collected for the year 2021-22 from 15 farmers for each crop, in both open and protected conditions and from two major vegetable producing districts of the state. The data pertaining to wholesaler and retailer were collected from 15 wholesaler and 15 retailers from each districts who were involved in marketing of vegetables. Descriptive statistics was the analytical tools adopted for the analysis of the data which includes percentages and averages. The reduction in post-harvest loss in protected cultivation was due to controlled environment in protected condition. Similarly, the post-harvest loss was higher in wholesaler against retailer because the huge quantity handling of vegetables found at wholesaler. Results depicted that the difference in post-harvest loss under open cultivation and protected cultivation are 14.13 kg/q, 6.27 kg/q, 14.64 kg/q and 14.93 kg/q of tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber and french beans, respectively. In between wholesaler and retailer, the difference in post-harvest losses are 4.43 kg/q, 2.47 kg/q, 7.40 kg/q and 2.57 kg/q for tomato, capsicum, cucumber and french beans respectively. Findings shows that the post-harvest management practices followed by farmers are harvesting at proper stage, use of crates for transportation, establishing better storage facilities and processing of mechanically damaged products. Similarly, the post-harvest management practices followed by market intermediaries are cold storage, better transportation facilities, procurement of good quality material, usage of cushioning material and other better management practices. The establishment of small sized cold storage units and employing better transportation facilities led to reduction in post-harvest losses which in turn led to additional returns to farmers and market intermediaries.

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