Determinants of Post- Harvest Losses in Fruits and Vegetables: An Empirical Study of Punjab

Abstract

Post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables is one of the major problems faced by the cultivators as 15 to 50% loss is faced due to poor handling in storage, transportation, packaging and processing etc. (Roy 1989 and Kiaya, 2014). In this study an effort has been made to examine the causes of post-harvest loses in fruits and vegetables and also the state of various facilities, which can support in reducing the post-harvest losses, available in the state of Punjab. Study is based on the views of the 300 farmers, 50 each collected from the six agro-climatic zones as divided by Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana based on the climate and soil texture. To check the association between quantum of post-harvest losses and the factors responsible for it, we have used Chi-square non-parametric test. Though there has been increase in the area under cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the state of Punjab during the last twenty-eight years covered in this study, but the increase in area under-cultivation as well as the increase in quantity produced has been less. Lack of transportation facility, cost of transport, cold storage facility, facility of ripening chambers, processing facility, distance of markets from farms, grading facility, regulation of markets, availability of government facility in the market place is found statistically significantly connected with post-harvest losses. However, we couldn’t find any association between mechanical drying facility and post-harvest losses. Though farmers expressed satisfaction with the network of markets available and also were found happy with the regulation system of these markets but they expressed dissatisfaction as the cost of transportation was stated on higher side, there was lack of ripening chambers as well as the processing and grading facilities in the state.