Estimation of post-harvest losses for vegetables in Palakkad district

Abstract

Over the last two decades, India’s food system with population surge has been undergoing a transformation with increase in demand for high value fruits and vegetables. However, farmers are unable to receive higher benefits from these transitions which are due to poorly developed value chain systems in the various post-harvest management practices of perishable crops like vegetables. The study entitled “Estimation of post-harvest losses for vegetables in Palakkad district” was aimed to examine and estimate the nature and extent of post-harvest losses for vegetables. Using time series data on the area, production and productivity of vegetables in India and area under vegetable cultivation in Kerala and Palakkad district, compound annual growth rates were calculated. The major vegetables like bitter gourd, snake gourd and vegetable cowpea were selected for the study in proportion to their production to the total vegetables. The respondents were selected using multi-stage random sampling technique. Thus, a sample of 180 farmers (60 for each vegetable) and fifteen vegetable traders from two blocks i.e. Chittur and Nenmara were selected for the study. The cost of cultivation for the three vegetables were worked-out using ABC cost concepts, where in, human labour accounted for the highest percentage (29 percent each for bitter gourd and snake gourd and nearly 49 per cent for vegetable cowpea) to total cost, in all the selected vegetables. The total cost of cultivation (cost A1) was found to be the highest in bitter gourd with ₹1,57,723 ha-1 , followed by snake gourd (₹1,35,805 ha-1 ) and vegetable cowpea (₹1,04,916 ha-1 ). The benefit-cost ratios at cost C were found to be stable with 2.78 for bitter gourd, 2.41 for snake gourd and 1.92 for vegetable cowpea. Also, the major marketing channels for vegetables in the study area were identified and majority of the farmers were found marketing their produce through VFPCK. The nature and extent of post-harvest losses in vegetables were determined by classifying them into three major categories viz. physical loss, physiological loss and loss due to biotic factors. In bitter gourd, the losses were found to be 3.68 (10.2 qtl/ha), 2.1 129 (5.82 qtl/ha) and 6.68 (18.51 qtl/ha) percent to the total production (per hectare) in terms of physical damages, physiological deterioration and loss due to biotic factors respectively at farm level. Thus, the total loss observed in bitter gourd at farm level was about 12.46 percent (34.53 qtl/ha). At trader level, the physiological loss contributed to almost 45 percent of the total losses. Hence, the total loss in bitter gourd was observed to be 21.88 per cent. Likewise in snake gourd, the extent of losses at farm level was found to be 9 percent (26.1 qtl/ha), where the highest losses (4.74 percent) were due to biotic factors like pests and diseases prevailing in the study area. Therefore, the total loss estimated in snake gourd was 13.89 percent which included 4.89 percent of loss at trader level. In vegetable cowpea, the total loss accounted for 20.2 percent to the total production per hectare i.e. 11.53 percent at farm level and 9.15 percent at trader level. Hence, based on the nature of produce the loss due to physical damage was highest in bitter gourd whereas the loss due to physiological factors was found highest in snake gourd and loss with respect to biotic factors was found to be maximum in vegetable cowpea. And, the post-harvest losses were observed as maximum in bitter gourd followed by vegetable cowpea and snake gourd. Economic loss is obtained by addition of post-harvest loss values and value of second grade produce. The monetary loss of vegetables at farm level were also estimated by taking into consideration the prevailing prices of ₹34 (bitter gourd), ₹23 (snake gourd) and ₹32 (vegetable cowpea) (per kg). The vegetables were graded by the shape and size of the produce into standard and second grades, and it was observed that the second grade fetched only half the price of the standard grade. The post-harvest monetary losses accounted for ₹1,17,402 ha-1 in bitter gourd. Farmers tend to lose the value of their produce for second grades. Thus, the economic losses were estimated at ₹3,05,439 ha-1 . Similarly, the monetary loss for snake gourd was computed as ₹60,040 ha-1 , whereas the economic loss valued at ₹94,316 ha-1 . In vegetable cowpea, the monetary losses and economic losses were estimated to be the same at ₹29,280 ha-1 , due to undesirable second 130 grade produce by the traders and consumers. Therefore, the monetary losses were observed to be highest in bitter gourd (32.41 percent to total value of production per hectare) followed by snake gourd and vegetable cowpea. Using the values of the farm level losses, the monetary losses were extrapolated to block and district levels. The estimated loss values for Chittur block were ₹10.82 lakh, ₹4.43 lakh and ₹58.56 lakh in bitter gourd, snake gourd and vegetable cowpea respectively, taking the production data into consideration. In Nenmara, the losses were estimated to ₹122.27 lakh for bitter gourd, ₹56.31 lakh for snake gourd and ₹58.47 lakh for vegetable cowpea. Similarly, for Palakkad district the estimated losses were ₹152.22 lakh, ₹59.49 lakh and ₹210.78 lakh respectively. Regression analyses were used to delineate the factors responsible for losses at farm level. In bitter gourd, area under cultivation, unfavourable weather conditions, pests and diseases and use of packing materials like jute sacks and wooden baskets were found as major determinants for losses. Area under cultivation, experience in farming and prevailing pests and diseases in snake gourd were found to affect the volume of postharvest losses at farm level. Besides these, the variable, timely labour availability was also found to contribute to the losses in vegetable cowpea. The socio-economic profile of the farmers was also analysed for the study. The knowledge, perception level and practices of the farmers regarding the losses were studied using the five-point Likert type scale and it was found that majority (76 percent) of the farmers were categorized under medium level of perception. Garrett ranking technique was used to find the major constraints faced by farmers in vegetable production and marketing. The unfavourable weather conditions, followed by high input cost and pest and disease incidence were found to be the major constraints in the study area. Thus, it can be concluded that with improvement in the awareness level among farmers regarding the post-harvest losses and by training them in the area of post-harvest operations and handling, we can reduce the losses occurring in the vegetables to a remarkable extent in the area studied.