ShareIndia: 25 to 30% of fruits and vegetables lost after harvest
According to an article published on website downtoearth.org.in, Indian farmers lose INR 63,000 crore (about 8 billion EUR) every year due to unsold products.
According to Richard Mahapatra and Kiran Panday, who published an article on post-harvest loss on the website downtoearth.org.in, Indian farmers lose INR 63,000 crore every year due to unsold products.
Fruit and vegetable production has significantly grown in recent years. A record was established during the year 2016-2017, when more than 300 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables were produced in India, according to a press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. This represents 5% growth compared to the previous year.
However, the article stresses the major challenge of sale and post-harvest loss, which could account for about 25 to 30% of production. This wastage is especially caused by the lack of cold chain infrastructure, such as cold storage. Although India has created around 6,700 cold storage facilities (representing a capacity of about 34 million tonnes), these facilities do not support all kind of crops. "Fruits and vegetables are, therefore, largely sold at local or regional markets as they do not have cold chain facility", explains the article.
According to the Committee on Doubling Farmers' Income (a committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), "at the all India level, the proportions of production that farmers are not able to sell in the market and thus, do not get a monetary return for are 34%, 44.6%, and about 40% for fruits, vegetables, and fruits and vegetables combined, respectively". That is how farmers lose around INR 63,000 crore (8 billion €) every year, according to this source.
Fruit and vegetable production has significantly grown in recent years. A record was established during the year 2016-2017, when more than 300 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables were produced in India, according to a press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. This represents 5% growth compared to the previous year.
However, the article stresses the major challenge of sale and post-harvest loss, which could account for about 25 to 30% of production. This wastage is especially caused by the lack of cold chain infrastructure, such as cold storage. Although India has created around 6,700 cold storage facilities (representing a capacity of about 34 million tonnes), these facilities do not support all kind of crops. "Fruits and vegetables are, therefore, largely sold at local or regional markets as they do not have cold chain facility", explains the article.
According to the Committee on Doubling Farmers' Income (a committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), "at the all India level, the proportions of production that farmers are not able to sell in the market and thus, do not get a monetary return for are 34%, 44.6%, and about 40% for fruits, vegetables, and fruits and vegetables combined, respectively". That is how farmers lose around INR 63,000 crore (8 billion €) every year, according to this source.