SOME ASPECTS OF POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY IN GANGA-SON DIVrOE -A STUDY IN FOOD SYSTEM
ABSTRACT
THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Hottor of |PI)ilO£(Q9t)P IN GEOGRAPHY
BY MAHJAB6EN
Under the Supervision of DR. ABDUL MUNIR (Reader)
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MinSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2001 ABSTRACT
It is known fact that there is pressing need to increase the food supplies to meet the demands of ever increasing population. Though,' the scope for increasing food production is limited as this would require expensive inputs which are more or less out of reach of the majority of farmers under Indian condition. An alternative is to reduce or altogether eliminate the losses to which food is exposed from the stage when it is produced to the moment at which it is finally consumed. By reducing these losses it will be possible not only to augment food supplies but will also ensure more balanced and faster economic growth. Therefore, an effort has been made by the author to discuss the present status of post-harvest practices in the Ganga-Son Divide region of South Bihar plain, India. The author has also tried to study the losses of foodcrops occurring at various stages of postharvest technology.
Postharvest technology is an emerging technology. It is basically concerned itself to application of science and engineering principles to the post production phase of the agricultural sector. It is infact one of the major functional sub-system of the food system which is concerned with the consumption of the food produce. It has the capability to meet food requirement of growing population by eliminating avoidable losses, developing more nutritive food items, proper processing and fortification and economic utilization of organic wastes and by products. Hence, the postharvest technology has greater impact on making the agriculture sector - a boon to farmers and people of the region or country.
The main objectives of the present study are : (i) To assess the efficiency of existing technology in the postharvest processes, (ii) To evaluate the loss and damage of crops by the existing technology and
(iii) to account the impact of these technologies on the economy of the study area.
In order to fulfill the above mentioned objectives the author has conducted survey in Ganga-Son Divide. This region forms the western part of south Bihar plain. It embraces the districts of Buxar, Bhojpur,
Bhabua and Rohtas. Ganga-Son Divide lies between the latitudinal extent of 24"30' and 25M2' north and longitudinal extent between 83°22' and
84"50' east. This region occupies an area of 11,311 sq.kms and is inhibited by 5,781,132 persons (1991 census) giving a population density of 546 persons per sq.kms. The region of Ganga-Son Divide is suitable for the study in postharvest technology because this region has dominant subsistence economy and records great variation in the attributes of population, economy and society.
The survey work was finally exposed to find out the loss in foodcrops and their responsible factors through various methods of postharvest technology in Ganga-Son-Divide. The data in this regard have been processed through field work with the help of a detailed questionnaire. To assess the productivity variations among the districts of Ganga-Son Divide, Shafi's productivity coefficient index has been
applied. The measurement of agricultural productivity is of great
importance as it not only helps in locating regional imbalance in
production but also suggest the methods how production or productivity
can be increased to feed the growing millions. According to this method,
Bhojpur belongs to high productivity region while Rohtas lies in medium
productivity region. Buxar and Bhabua both the districts fall in low
productivity region. From each productivity region, three villages are
selected making a total of nine villages from the four districts of Ganga-
Son Divide.
The selection of the sample villages is based on random
stratified sampling. The objective is to select the villages from each
productivity region, keeping in view the varying size of the villages, the
easy access to the villages, population size of the village, no. of
households, connectivity from the road and the availability of
infrastructural facilities. From each village 10 percent of households is
interviewed in respect of losses of foodcrops and other postharvest
operations, crops cultivated by household surveyed, the yield per hectare
and the production of each crop in quintals. All the three categories of
farmers that is small, medium and large farmers were interviewed.
Categorisation of farmers was done on the basis of land holdings.
On the basis of information collected through field work, the losses in respect of each crop, cereals and pulses in all the three villages of a particular productivity region were added up and divided by
the no. of villages considered. The result thus obtained yielded the
average loss of crops considered for that productivity region. The losses
calculated are finally converted into calories to find out the caloric
losses. The same procedure was followed for all the remaining
productivity regions and for all the crops.
Survey work revealed that in the region of Ganga-Son Divide
agriculture as a whole is still means of subsistence and is practised in
traditional ways with little use of fertilizers and plant protection measures. It is reflected further, in the cropping pattern of this area which is generally subsistence oriented. Since most of the postharvest practices are wholly traditional with little or no mechanization, the
problem is further compounded due to the smaller size of land holdings.
it has been seen from the field work that harvesting is a real constraint because there is a lack of harvesting equipment. Farmers of sampled villages mainly use sickle for harvesting operations, thus this process is very labour intensive and time taking. In the study region, the small size of land holdings and the various socio-economic systems do not allow the use of combine harvester. The average loss of sampled villages varies between 4 to 7 per cent due to bad weather condition, untimely rains, storms etc. Sometimes crop loss may be as high as
50-100 per cent due to floods during rainy season. For drying the farmers of this region still follow traditional practice. The crops are sundried for 3-4 days. The crop losses are low as estimated by the
farmers. Thereafter crops are taken to threshing floor for threshing.
Traditional methods of threshing is still prevalent that is trampling of
crops under the feet of animals or beating the crops with stick or
wooden plank. But now power or diesel threshers are increasingly in use
for cereals and some legumes. The losses during threshing are caused by
stray animals, birds, rodents and rats leading to 2-3 per cent losses of
crops. Threshing is followed by winnowing which is also traditionally
practiced in sampled villages except sometimes. Winnowing is done with
the help of siipa that is wooden basket in front of air stream which
blows away the chaff. When wind is weak power operated winnower is
also used. The loss in paddy is greater as compared to other crops.
Usually little loss occurs during winnowing. As far as storage is
concerned, farmers hardly follow the scientific method of storage. The
farmers generally use jute bags, piicci kolhi, kacchi kolhi and
underground storage locally known as bakhar. Another storage structure
locally called as khop is also used to store crops. In this structure
losses of crops is mainly due to seepage of moisture as it is made of
straw. Usually, at subsistence level farm structures are built with local
agricultural materials as straw, bamboo, timber, mud or bricks. It should
be built to have the stability and strength for holding crops. Farmers use
kerosene oil, ashes, gamexine as preventive measures to cut the losses but these are not very effective leading to large losses of crops. The
rats, rodents, fungi, moisture, excreations of pests infest these storage areas which result in losses iipto 4 per cent. Insects and rodents not only
physically consume material from the crops and reduce the weight
components, but also inflict qualitative losses through degradation
which encourages further biodeterioration by moulds and mites. All this
reduces the hygienic quality of the foodgrain and lowers the nutritive
value. The transportation of produce is usually done either on labour
back, horse cart or tractor trolley. In sampled villages surplus are taken
either by broker or traders from the village itself. Only sometimes
farmers sell their surplus to local hal or niandis. Thus little loss takes
place while transporting the produce.
From the presentation made so far it has been observed that
farmers of this region are not exposed to the modern PHT and thus
postharvest system prevailing in the region of Ganga-Son Divide leads
to large losses of foodgrains. Most of the farmers in this region are
poor and cannot afford for appropriate equipment to carry out farming
operation efficiently. However, due to increase in the labour cost, some
of them shown interest to adopt the modern equipment or hire basis. The
farmers are trying to reduce the losses by adopting simple technologies
and small changes such as timely harvesting and transporting the crop
quickly to the threshing floor, use of blade cutter for harvesting lentils or threshing the produce with stationary thresher rather than by hand or by animal which could result in considerable savings.
The present study despite the paucity of data has succeeded in confirming the another hypothesis that there exist positive relationship between agricultural productivity and crop losses. On the basis of the
sampled villages of respective productivity regions it has been found that
percentage of postharvest losses are high in high productivity region and
it is low in low productivity region comparatively. It has been observed
that Bhojpur suffers the average postharvest crop loss of around 14
percent. The caloric losses are found to be 332320.07 million calories
and if these calories are checked then it will be possible to feed 455233
person more annually at the rate of 2000 cal per head per day. Rohtas
lies in the medium productivity region and its postharvest average loss
touches around 12 percent. If this loss is saved it could feed 251355
persons more per annum. Similarly percentage loss of Buxar and Bhabua
claiming to be low productivity region is around 10 percent. It bears the
loss of 427687.99 million calories which could possibly feed 585874
persons more annualy if such losses are reduced.
If the foodcrop losses recorded from the sampled villages of
all the three productivity region is calculated for the region of Ganga-
Son Divide as a whole then the loss of crops will be 833336.807 metric
tonnes and if converted into calories it will be 943496.78 million
calories. If such losses are reduced then 1292761 person per annum
more can be fed.
The major constraint on post harvest loss in the sampled
villages is lack of information concerning magnitude of the losses and
most effective techniques for reducing or preventing them. Experts 8 believe farmers could cut losses by altering production methods, or by use of improved technologies. Yet exactly how much of the harvest is really lost is still a question. Surprisingly little solid information exists on the precise amount and nature of loss. This is partly because losses vary greatly by crop, by country and by climatic region and partly there is no universally applied method of measuring losses. As a consequence estimates of total postharvest food loss are controversial and range widely from about 10 percent to as high as 40 percent. The criteria and the methods of assessment should be standardized in order to obtain comparable figures. It is important to note that the postharvest losses represent more than Just a loss of food, whatever is the source. When
10 per cent of a harvest is lost, the actual crop loss is just part of the problem. Also wasted is 10 per cent of all the factors that contributed to produce the crop - 10 per cent of the land used to grow the food and 10 per cent of the water used to irrigate it, along with the human labour, seeds, fertilizer and others. In other words postharvest food loss translates not just into human hunger and financial loss to farmers but also into tremendous environmental waste. Therefore, it is recommended that an institutional framework be established which can solve the problem of PHT at regional and national levels. SOME ASPECTS OF POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY IN GANGA-SON DIVIDE -A STUDY IN FOOD SYSTEM
THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Bottor of pi)ilos(opt)p IN GEOGRAPHY
BY MAHJABEEN
Under the Supervision of DR. ABDUL MUNfR (Reader)
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2001 ,"; Ace. KJ _•••
tiO '''/J H ^'
T5535 Phone .(0571) /00683 Fax : 91—0571-?/»0052S DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH-202002
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Miss Mahjabeen has completed her thesis entitled "Some Aspects of Postharvest Technology in Ganga-Son Divide - A Study in Foodsystem" for the award of the degree of Ph.D. in Geography under my supervision.
(Dr. Abdul Munir) Supervisor VEVICA T'EV TO MY V^A-R PAK^NTS CONTENTS Page No. Acknowlewdgements i-ii List of Tables iii-viii List of Figures ix Introduction 1-9
Chapter-1 Ganga-Son Divide - A Geographical 10-32
Profile
Chapter-2 Review of Available Literature 33 - 54
Chapter-3 Pattern of Landuse and Crop 55 - 78 Production Chapter-4 Postharvest Operations and Losses 79 - 107
Chapter-5 Selection of Sample Villages, Food 108 - 143 Losses in Villages of High Productivity Region
Chapter-6 Selection of Sample Villages, Food 144 - 175 Losses in Villages of Medium Productivity Region
Chapter-7 Selection of Sample Villages, Food 176 - 207 Losses in Villages of Low Productivity Region
Conclusions 208 - 214
Glossary 215 - 217
Bibliography 218 - 236
Appendix 237 - 239 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my sincere and profound gratitude to
Dr. Abdul Munir for his indispensable guidance, constructive
criticisms, persistant interest and constant support during the course of
this study.
I am highly thankful to the Chairman, Prof. AH Mohammad,
Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University who provided all
the books and related materials during the course of my work. I am also
thankful to Prof. Abha Lakshmi Singh, Ex-chairperson, Department of
Geography, for providing me the research facilities in the Department. I
am also thankful to Dr. F.A. Siddiqui and Dr. Shamshul Haque Siddiqui
for their valuable suggestions.
I wish to offer my sincere thanks to Prof. P.K. Srivastava
(Scientist), Dean of Agriculture Institute, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh who extended his invaluable guidance and every possible help
and also provided access to his institute's library.
I like to offer my thanks to my brother Shahid Sallal who exerted his best to escort me to various villages for data collection and field survey without whose help I would not have completed this assignment. I owe a word of thanks to Tara Nand Singh and Surendra Nath, Block Development Officers who provided me the requisite data of block levels. ii
I want to express my deep sense of gratitude to my parents for encouragement, inspiration, valuable help and for taking active interest in the completion of the present work. It gives me immense pleasure to thank to my family members especially to Dr. Afzal Anees, Athar Imam,
Mahe Talat, Dr. Suboohi Afzal, Dr. Roshan jabeen and Khalid Anwar for encouragement.
Thanks are also due to my friends and colleagues particularly to
Nooruzzaman, Rashid Aziz Faridi and Shama Jawaid for their help and
manifold cooperation throughout the course of this work. I am also
thankful to Nigar Alam, Ginny Kalra, Noorus Sahar and Lubna Siddiqui
for moral support. My thanks are also due to Naseemul Islam Ansari and
Mrs. Talat Kaneez Fatima, seminar incharge. Department of Geography,
A.M.U., for their generous help at all stages in completion of my thesis.
Further, the award of Junior Research Fellowship by the Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh is also gratefully acknowledged.
(MAHGABIEEN) iii
LIST OF TABLES Table No. Title Page No. 1.1 Ganga-Son Divide : District and Monthwise 23 normal rainfall in mm (1986-87) 3.1 Ganga-Son Divide : Landuse Pattern 58 (1981-82 -1989-90) 3.2 Ganga-Son Divide : Cropland use 69 (1981-82 - 1988-89) 3.3 Rohtas : Area, Production and Yield 71 (1981-82 - 1988-89) 3.4 Bhojpur : Area, Production and Yield 72 (1981-82 - 1988-89) 4.1 Safey Storage moisture content of some 96 of the crops (moisture content in equilibrium 70% relative humidity at about 27°C) 4.2 Improved PHFP TIMS suitable for use 105 by rural folk of developing countries 5.1a District : Bhojpur, Block - Piro, 112 Village - Bachari Area, Production and Yield 5.1b District : Bhojpur, Block - Piro, 114 Village - Bachari, Harvesting : Means and Losses 5.1c District : Bhojpur, Block - Piro, 115 Village - Bachari, Drying : Means and Losses 5. Id District : Bhojpur, Block - Piro, 117 Village - Bachari, Threshing : Means and Losses 5.1e District : Bhojpur, Block - Piro, 118 Village - Bachari, Winnowing : Means and Losses 5.If District : Bhojpur, Block - Piro, 120 Village - Bachari, Storage : Means and Losses IV
5.1g District : Bhojpur, Block - Piro, 121 Village - Bachari, Transportation : Means and Losses 5.2a District : Bhojpur, Block - Koilwar, 123 Village - Haripur Area, Production and Yield 5.2b District : Bhojpur, Block - Koilwar, 125 Village - Haripur Harvesting : Means and Losses 5.2c District : Bhojpur, Block - Koilwar, 126 Village - Haripur Drying : Means and Losses 5.2d District : Bhojpur, Block - Koilwar, 127 Village - Haripur Threshing : Means and Losses 5.2e District : Bhojpur, Block - Koilwar, 129 Village - Haripur Winnowing : Means and Losses 5.2f District : Bhojpur, Block - Koilwar, 130 Village - Haripur Storage : Means and Losses 5.2g District : Bhojpur, Block - Koilwar, 131 Village - Haripur Transportation : Means and Losses 5.3a District : Bhojpur, Block - Behea, 133 Village - Belouna Area, Production and Yield 5.3b District : Bhojpur, Block - Behea, 134 Village - Belouna Harvesting : Means and Losses 5.3c District : Bhojpur, Block - Behea, 136 Village - Belouna Drying : Means and Losses 5.3d District : Bhojpur, Block - Behea, 137 Village - Belouna Threshing : Means and Losses 5.3e District : Bhojpur, Block - Behea, 139 Village - Belouna Winnowing : Means and Losses 5.3f District : Bhojpur, Block - Behea, 140 Village - Belouna Storage : Means and Losses 5.3g District : Bhojpur, Block - Behea, 141 Village - Belouna Transportation : Means and Losses 6.1a District : Rohtas, Block - Tilouthu, 146 Village - Bhadokhara Area, Production and Yield 6.1b District : Rohtas, Block - Tilouthu, 147 Village - Bhadokhara Harvesting : Means and Losses 6.1c District : Rohtas, Block - Tilouthu, 149 Village - Bhadokhara Drying : Means and Losses 6.Id District : Rohtas, Block - Tilouthu, 150 Village - Bhadokhara Threshing : Means and Losses 6.1e District : Rohtas, Block - Tilouthu, 152 Village - Bhadokhara Winnowing : Means and Losses 6.If District : Rohtas, Block - Tilouthu, 153 Village - Bhadokhara Storage : Means and Losses 6.1g District : Rohtas, Block - Tilouthu, 154 Village - Bhadokhara Transportation : Means and Losses 6.2a District : Rohtas, Block - Rohtas, 157 Village - Kusdihra Area, Production and Yield 6.2b District : Rohtas, Block - Rohtas, 158 Village - Kusdihra Harvesting : Means and Losses vi
6.2c District : Rohtas, Block - Rohtas, 159 Village - Kusdihra Drying : Means and Losses 6.2d District : Rohtas, Block - Rohtas, 161 Village - Kusdihra Threshing : Means and Losses 6.2e District : Rohtas, Block - Rohtas, 162 Village - Kusdihra Winnowing : Means and Losses 6.2f District : Rohtas, Block - Rohtas, 163 Village - Kusdihra Storage : Means and Losses 6.2g District : Rohtas, Block - Rohtas, 164 Village - Kusdihra Transportation : Means and Losses 6.3a District : Rohtas, Block - Rajpur, 166 Village - Pakri Area, Production and Yield 6.3b District : Rohtas, Block - Rajpur, 168 Village - Pakri Harvesting : Means and Losses 6.3c District : Rohtas, Block - Rajpur, 169 Village - Pakri Drying : Means and Losses 6.3d District : Rohtas, Block - Rajpur, 170 Village - Pakri Threshing : Means and Losses 6.3e District : Rohtas, Block - Rajpur, 171 Village - Pakri Winnowing : Means and Losses 6.3f District : Rohtas, Block - Rajpur, 173 Village - Pakri Storage : Means and Losses 6.3g District : Rohtas, Block - Rajpur, 174 Village - Pakri Transportation : Means and Losses vii
7.1a District : Bhabua, Block - Ramgarh, 177 Village - Deohalia Area, Production and Yield 7.1b District : Bhabua, Block - Ramgarh, 179 Village - Deohalia Harvesting : Means and Losses 7.1c District : Bhabua, Block - Ramgarh, 181 Village - Deohalia Drying : Means and Losses 7.Id District : Bhabua, Block - Ramgarh, 182 Village - Deohalia Threshing : Means and Losses 7.1e District : Bhabua, Block - Ramgarh, 183 Village - Deohalia Winnowing : Means and Losses 7.If District : Bhabua, Block - Ramgarh, 185 Village - Deohalia Storage : Means and Losses 7.1g District : Bhabua, Block - Ramgarh, 186 Village - Deohalia Transportation : Means and Losses 7.2a District : Buxar, Block - Kesath, 188 Village - Rampur Area, Production and Yield 7.2b District : Buxar, Block - Kesath, 189 Village - Rampur Harvesting : Means and Losses 7.2c District : Buxar, Block - Kesath, 190 Village - Rampur Drying : Means and Losses 7.2d District : Buxar, Block - Kesath, 192 Village - Rampur Threshing : Means and Losses 7.2e District : Buxar, Block - Kesath, 193 Village - Rampur Winnowing : Means and Losses viii
7.2f District : Buxar, Block - Kesath, - 195 Village - Rampur Storage : Means and Losses 7.2g District : Buxar, Block - Kesath, 196 Village - Rampur Transportation : Means and Losses 7.3a District : Bhabua, Block - Chainpur, 198 Village - Baditakia Area, Production and Yield 7.3b District : Bhabua, Block - Chainpur, 200 Village - Baditakia Harvesting : Means and Losses 7.3c District: Bhabua, Block - Chainpur, 201 Village - Baditakia Drying : Means and Losses 7.3d District : Bhabua, Block - Chainpur, 202 Village - Baditakia Threshing : Means and Losses 7.3e District : Bhabua, Block - Chainpur, 203 Village - Baditakia Winnowing : Means and Losses 7.3f District : Bhabua, Block - Chainpur, 205 Village - Baditakia Storage : Means and Losses 7.3g District : Bhabua, Block - Chainpur, 206 Village - Baditakia Transportation : Means and Losses ix
LIST OF FIGURES Figure No . Title Page No. 1.1 Ganga-Son Divide : Location and 11 Administrative division 1.2 Ganga-Son Divide : Landforms 14 1.3 Ganga-Son Divide : Drainage 18 1.4A,B,C Climate Elements at Dehri 21 1.5 Ganga-Son Divide : Soils 27 3.1 Ganga-Son Divide : Landuse Pattern 66 4.1 Flow diagram of postharvest technology 80 5.1 Ganga-Son Divide : Productivity Regions 109 5.2 Ganga-Son Divide : Sampled villages 110 5.3 Processwise percentage loss of crops in 143 High Productivity Region of Sampled Villages 6.1 Processwise percentage loss of crops in 175 Medium Productivity Region of Sampled Villages 7.1 Processwise percentage loss of crops in 207 Low Productivity Region of Sampled Villages INTRODUCTION India is endowed with several natural resources and all kinds of food commodities are produced here. Therefore, Indian economy is basically agrarian and agriculture contributes about 32 percent to national GDP. Spectacular growth has taken place in Indian agriculture in post green revolution era - and yet one-third of its populaiton - an estimated 320 million in 1997 was considered "food insecure" (Times of India). Indian foodgrains production has increased by 3.5 time, cereals by about 3 time and protein by 1.5 time - yet the increase in per capita availability is much less, says a study brought out by United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). These alluring production figures would never satisfy the ever increasing population unless the post production losses are minimised which is still in the range of 10-40 percent. The facilities to handle, conserve and process the production has not been able to keep pace with increased production resulting in tremendous loss of foodgrains. Qualitative losses do occur sometimes due to improper post harvest practices. Such practices can also not be ignored as this will directly affect the health and income of the farmers.
Therefore, an effort has been made by the author to discuss the present status of postharvest practices in Ganga-Son Divide. The author also tried to study the losses of foodcrops occurring at various stages of postharvest technology. By reducing these losses it will be possible not only to augment food supplies but per capita availability will also improve. Besides, it will ensure more balanced and faster economic growth. Concept of Postharvest Technology
Post harvest technology is an emerging technology. Earlier activities under this were only of isolated nature. The Govt, of India realized the importance of concerted efforts in this area. Consequently an All India Coordinated Research Project on postharvest technology was launched in Sept. 1972 to study on harvest and postharvest technology with 10 centres to monitor the post harvest technology problems faced by the farmers and other functionaries involved with the handling and management of foodgrains and to provide the solution for the same. The discipline of post harvest technology was given a place for the first time in the national agricultural policy in sixth plan. Since then the recognition of postharvest technology is growing.
In order to cope with the challenge of minimising losses, producing value added products, better utilization of wastes and byproducts and appropriate marketing, India has been developing infrastructure in the field of post-harvest technology through various
National Research Agencies such as Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Deptt. of Food,
Nutrition Board and other state organisation. Inspite of best efforts for integration, the programme is continued to represent isolated efforts and it is essential that they are brought under one umbrella through establishment of the Institutes on post harvest technology in agricultural universities. A step in this direction has already been taken in Punjab
Agricultural University (PAU) through creation of separate Directorate of postharvest and marketing. The private sector has also taken interest in the area of posthanest technology. A wide range of grain conditioning and processing equipment are being manufactured indigenously by number of firms in India.
Postharvest technology basically concern itself to applications
of science and engineering principles to the post production phase of the agricultural sector. It is infact one of the major functional sub
system of the foodsystem, which is concerned with the consumption of
the food produce. Foodsystem consists of two composite technological
operations - preharvest technology and postharvest technology. The preharvest consist of preparation of the field for sowing, the actual
operation of sowing, weeding, watering the field, application of manures
and fertilizers at right time in appropriate quantities and application of
suitable pesticides, while post harvest technology concerns with utilization of these standing crops from field to the consumers. Hence, the PHT has greater impact on making the agriculture sector - a boon to
farmers and people of the reigon or country.
Postharvest technology is a multidisciplinary field and refers to various treatments and operations carried out on harvested crop and animal and aquatic products for the purpose of preservation or
enhancement of quality for marketing. It has capability to meet food requirement of growing population by eliminating avoidable losses, developing more nutritive food items from low grade raw commodity, proper processing and fortification and economic utilization of organic wastes and byproducts. Postharvest technology vary with commodity and are location specific. Production of rice from paddy, Jal and besan from pulses and the extraction of oil from oilseed involve different sets of unit operations. Postharvest methods for application at the farm level, village level and organised industrial level have to be different.
Benefits of Postharvest Technology
The benefits of developing post harvest system for handling food on a sound techno-economic foundations in the developing countries would be :
Increase and improve food supplies without additional demand on land.
Raise nutritional quality of food with consequent improvement in nutritional levels, especially of the low-income group of population.
Increase employment in the conservation and processing industries especially in rural areas, and reduce employment pressure on agriculture.
Raise the income level of the producer by ensuring a more stable market, making it possible for him to use greater inputs for increasing production.
Stabilize prices and provide food to the consumer at a reasonable price.
Ensure better utilization of the storage, milling, processing and distribution capacities for optimal use of the machinery and the system. Ensure more efficient use of agricultural residue for manufacture
of by products for use as food and feed.
Increase foreign exchange earnings and improve balance of trade.
Protect the environment by eliminating pollution.
Speed up socio-economic transformation to create more balance
between agriculture, industry and other resources.
Ensure more efficient uses of energy resources in production
conservation and distribution and harness non-conventional energy
resources to increase and improve food supplies.
Encourage greater multidisciplinary information exchange and
documentation, research and development, education and training,
technology assessment and transfer.
Aims and Objectives
To achieve the aims and objectives of the study survey was
conducted on important crops for conventional practices and to identify
technology gaps for the postharvest operational skills. Thus, the main
objectives of the present study are :
i) To assess the efficiency of existing technology in post harvest processes.
ii) To evaluate the loss and damage of crops by the existing technology and iii) To account the impact of these technologies on the eocnomy of the study area. Hypotheses
The following hypotheses are being tested on the basis of field
work carried out in the study area :
The losses in foodcrops occur at various stages of post harvest
systems and
There exists a relationship between the level of agricultural productivity and food losses.
The Region
To test the validity of the hypotheses the author has conducted
survey in the region of Ganga-Son Divide. This region forms the western
part of South Bihar plain. The latitudinal extent of this region is between
24°30' and 25°42' north and longitudinal extent is between 83^22' and
84°50' east. It embraces the districts of Buxar, Bhojpur, Bhabua and
Rohtas. This region occupies an area of 11,311 sq.kms. and is inhabited by 5,781,132 persons (1991 census) giving a population density of 546 persons per sq.km.
The region of Ganga-Son Divide is suitable for the study in postharvest technology because this reigon has dominant subsistence economy and shows great variation in the attributes of population economy and society.
Methodology
An exhaustive survey was conducted by the researcher in the study region to carry out study on different means and technologies used for harvesting, drying, threshing, storage and transportation. The study was performed to assess the loss in foodcrops and factors responsible for the losses of foodcrops through various methods of postharvest technology in Ganga-Son Divide. The data has been collected for three successive cropping years from 1997-98 to 1999-2000. The data in this regard have been processed through field work with the help of detialed questionnaire (Appendix-1) by inculcating the confidence of the villagers. To assess the productivity variations among the districts of
Ganga-Son Divide, Shafi's productivity coefficient index has been applied. Though different scholars such as Enyedi, Sapre and Despande,
Yang etc. have used different numerical methods to measure levels of agricultural productivity at small areal units but the author has applied
Shafi's method because she finds it more applicable for foodcrops.
Agricultural productivity is calculated by using data on area and production of all the foodcrops grown in the region namely rice, maize, wheat, barley, gram, pigeon-pea, peas other pulses, oilseeds, potatoes and sugarcane.
Shafi's method gives the index of productivity in the form of ratios of sum of yields of an area in relation to the yields of the entire region of which the area is enumeration constitutes a part. The formula read as : (ii. 1'.. z.™.... „): (_:>>. _3. j».... „) t t t y ^ J T T where
Vw yp yini ^*^- ^ **^*^' yield of the respective crop in the district
""^w'^'r'^ni ^^^- " ^°t^J yield of the respective crop at the national level. t = area planted under the corp in the district, and
T = area planted under the crop at the national level.
Application of this method yields regionalization of districts into various levels of agricultural productivity. According to this method
Bhojpur lies in the range of high productivity while Rohtas falls in the range of medium productivity. The districts of both Buxar and Bhabua lie in the range of low productivity which forms the western part of
Ganga-Son Divide. From each productivity region, three villages from three different blocks are selected making a total of 9 villages from the
4 districts of Ganga-Son Divide.
The selection of the sample villages is based on random stratified sampling. The objective is to select the villages from each productivity region, keeping in view the varying size of the villages, the easy access to the villages, population size of the village, no. of households, connectivity from the road and the availability of infrastructural facilities. From each village 10 percent of household is interviewed in respect of losses of foodcrops and other postharvest operations, crops cultivated by household surveyed, the yield per hectare and the production of each crop in quintals. All the three categories of farmers i.e. small, medium and large farmers were interviewed.
Categorisation of farmers was done on the basis of land holdings.
On the basis of information collected through field work, the losses in respect of each crop, cereals and pulses in all the three villages of a particular productivity region were added up and divided by the no. of villages considered. The result thus obtained yielded the average loss in quintal/ha of crop considered for the productivity region. The losses calculated are finally converted into calories to find out the caloric losses. The same procedure was followed for all the remaining productivity regions and for all the crops.
Organisation of Study
This work has been organised into seven chapters, namely, study area, review of available literature, pattern of landuse and crop production, post harvest operations and losses and selection fo sample villages, food losses in villages of different productivity regions. First chapter deals with study area which comprises physical background, structure and relief, drainage, climate and soils of Ganga-Son Divide. The second chapter is devoted to the review of available literature. The third chapter presents a pattern of landuse and crop production of the study region. The fourth chapter deals with the methods of postharvest technology and losses caused by them. The fifth chapter discusses the selection of sample villages in high productivity region and losses of foodcrops caused by the use of existing methods of postharvest technology. Selection of sample villages and foodcrop's losses of medium productivity region are discussed in sixth chapter. The seventh chapter presents the selection of sample villages and food losses in villages of low productivity region. Chapter-1
GANGA-SON DIVIDE - A GEOGRAPHICAL PROFILE The Ganga-Son divide is quadrilateral in shape. It forms the western part of South Bihar which lies south of the river Ganga. The latitudinal extent of this region is between 24°30' and 25''42' north and the longitudinal extent is between 83°22' and 84°5r east. It embraces the districts of Buxar, Bhojpur, Bhabua and Rohtas (Fig. I.I). This region occupies an area of 113II Sq.Km and is inhabited by 5781132 persons
(1991 census) giving a population density of 546 persons per Sq.Km.
This region is almost throughout alluvial except in southern part which covers the well defined geographical unit - Kaimur Plateau, bounded by Son river on the south and south-east. In the north, it is bordered by Ganga, extending in the east upto the western border of
Patna district and in the west upto the western limit of the state marked by Karamnasa river. The Son river flowing along the eastern border separates this region from the districts of Patna, Jahanabad, Aurangabad and Palamau. The southern boundary of the region roughly coincides with the contour line of 150 metres.
The most notable place in this region is Rothasgarh fort, 450 m above the sea level on an outlying spur of the Kaimur plateau, near the Son. The remains of the ancient fortress occupy a part of the plateau and extend about 6.4 Km east to west and 8 Km north to south with a circumferance of about 45 Kms.
The economic life of this region centres round and drains sustenance from agriculture. About 80 per cent workers are dependent upon this occupation and about only 2 per cent are engaged in industrial occupation. Agriculture is non-commercialized, foodcrops claiming 11
eJlis' 30' \h5' et?|oo' 15' 30' I^ GANCiA-SON DIVIDE LOCATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION
<.,-—> LOCATION OF ) ( ^ BIHAR ui ^ r ••x./r'— >
30' 30'
15 ??
2l 2£ 00*
LOCATION OF ^UDY AREA j;? ^ ^/ c / -^.fi^naa^ r
25 ' V,~ 2i 30' w^ STATE BOUNDARY ( B H A f< y OII.TRICT BOUNDARY O DISTRICT HEAD QUARTERS
20 10 0 20 -~J Km Km
8f|l5' l30^ ^5' 6t?[oo' 15' 3Q: W5'
Fig. 1.1 12 about 94 per cent of the total net sown area. Paddy alone accounts for almost half of the total net sown area and forms the staple food of the people.
PHYSICAL BACKGROUND
STRUCTURE
Structurally the Ganga-Son divide may be divided into two parts. They are : (a) The Alluvium Plain, and (b) The Kaimur Plateau
(a) The Alluvial Plain
About 80 per cent of Ganga-Son Divide consist of alluvial deposits brought from the southern uplands. The depth of the deposit is relatively shallow in the south than in the north. The northern edge is relatively more regular, particularly in Bhojpur plain while the general surface west of the Son is more or less even and is dotted with residual conical hillocks. In this region, area of old alluvium or Bhangar is dominant than new alluvium or Khadar.The Bhangar may have been deposited during the Pleistocene. The Khadar is more recent and is renewed every year by fresh deposits by the rivers. The former consisting of coarse gravels, sands concretions of impure calcium carbonate etc. occupy relatively the higher parts and is therefore free from floods, but the latter with sands, silts, clays etc. occupying lower parts is subjected to inundation almost every year. The newer alluvium occasionally contains carbonaceous matter. The recurrence of floods in newer alluvium retains the fertility of the soil which gives bumper rabi crops. In fact, the district of Buxar and Bhojpur is considered to be the 13 best wheat growing area in the state because it receives deposits of silt from the Ganges almost every year and therefore it is extremely fertile.
b) Kaimur Plateau
The Kaimur Plateau is an undulated tableland lying in the south
western corner of the south Bihar plains. The plateau have this shrubby jungles and the land is not at all fertile. The rock of Kaimur plateau are
represented in the state by two series, lower Vindhyan or Semri series
and upper Vindhyan or Kaimur series respectively. The Vindhyan rocks
lie unconformably over the Kolhan series and consist of horizontally
bedded sedimentary rocks like sandstones, quartzites, limestones,
dolomitic limestones and shales. A large part of this system represented
by Kaimur series is confined between Sasaram and river Son in Rohtas
district. The Semri series representing lower Vindhyan is found in the
north-western part of Palamau district and also in a narrow strip north of
river Son. The 'Rohtas stage' of Semri series is the chief source of
limestone production in the state. The age of Vindhyan system is
uncertains, though it is probable that it may belong to Paleozoic era.
The escarpments are the most prominent features of the margin
and their character and slope are to a great extent a function of geology
(Fig. 1.2). The plateau descends in steep scarps on either side and is
deeply dissected and forested. The slope is from south to north and east to west so that practically all the region is drained towards the Ganga and the little drainage of the region find its way into the Son, which is
so close to the region on its south and east. 14
QANQA-SON DIVIDE LANDFDRMS
DEPOSITIONAL PLAIN
ESCARPMENTS
OUTER EROSION FRINGE
20 10 p 20 U U( I —=1 Km
Fig. 1.2 15
RELIEF
Ganga-Son Divide, located to the west of river Son is bounded
by the Ganga in the north and Kaimur plateau in south. The area
comprising the district of Bhabua is an extension of Kaimur hills range.
The plateau areas is stony and poor in fertility. Kaimur hill of Sasaram
including Adhaura plateau in Rohtas district too is an extension of
Vindhyan range which is separated by the Son valley from Chotanagpur
plateau. They consists of Vindhyan rocks such as Shales, sandstones and
limestones. During the subsequent Vindhyan period Kaimur plateau
appear to have been occupied by the sea as limestones occur in the
Kaimur plateau. Limestones is a rock mostly formed under sea from
dead remains of calcareous plants and animals. After the Vindhyan
sediments were deposited earth movement appear to have elevated the
Vindhyan basin into upland, the eroded remnants of which are now seen
as Kaimur upland in Shahabad. The general slope of this part of the plain
is from southwest to northwest. This hill forms a wider upland plain
which is separated by a steep scarp from the south Bihar plains.
Except the hilly area, the entire plains consists of alluvium
deposits. Old alluvium is dominant in this region. New alluvium is found
in the form of narrow ribbons along Son rivers. There is low lying area
in north Ara and Buxar districts commonly known as diara is annually
flooded by the Son and the Ganga. Sometimes villages of diara are
engulfed in the river causing loss to field crops, human and cattle life.
Diaralands are characterized by relatively young alluvium and has undulating topography. In the west the Son makes a great deltaic re- 16 entrance into the older rocks. This alluvial strip is some 137 Km wide and it goes almost directly on to the Ganga. A considerable part of this sprawling plain is hhangar and the inundated areas are fewer than those to the north of the Ganga. The river bank itself lies high, except in
Bhojpur district and at high water the tributaries are flooded and pushed back. In the narrow Gangapur plain west of river Karamnasa, the typical scarp faced slopes or pentland topography of the Vindhyas becomes the characteristic feature. The relief east of the Karamnasa is free from the
Pentland topography. The lower Son valley is a physiographic unit in its own right, although the flood-plain is itself narrow.
DRAINAGE
The drainage system in any region is influenced by rock structure, relief, climate and tectonic activity of the area. The numerous changes in the courses of stream, formation of meanderings, diaras and ox-bow-lakes is due to the existence of rocks of different types and other related factors. The type of confluence with the parent river is also determined by the drainage pattern of the area. Dendritic, trellis, radial and annular pattern of drainage are common in Bihar. In north Bihar the drainage pattern is trellis and dendritic while in south Bihar, the pattern is trellis radial and annular. This is due to the differences in physical conditions - amount of slope and type of rocks.
The river of south Bihar are wet-season rivers except for a few. These rivers originate in the Chotanagpur plateau and are not snowfed. These rivers form steep sided narrow valleys, rapids and waterfalls when they descend into the plains and flow through hard rocks where the slope is almost five times more than in the North Bihar plain. 17
River Ganga is the main river of this region which enters Bihar near Chausa (Fig. 1.3). It determines the river system of Bihar. The low- lying rich alluvial plains in the north-eastern end owe their fertilitv' to the river Ganges. Here it is in its old age. The width of its flood plains
is from 5 Km to 30 Km and the average slope is about 6 cm per Km. All
rivers of Bihar plains join this river from north and south.
The Ganga receives numerous tributaries from the southern
uplands among which the Son is the largest. Son is an important river in
the region. Rising near the source of the rivers Narmada, Mahanadi in
Makalu ranges in the plateau of the central India, the Son enters the
district at the tri-junction of Palamu, Mirzapur and Rohtas districts. It
moves eastward and then takes a north-easterly direction. It moves
eastward 225 Km along the southern and eastern boundaries of the
region until it joins the Ganges near Maner in Patna. The small tract of
land between the Kaimur plateau and Son, known as the Son valley, is
formed by this river. The river is also the source of the famous Son sand
used extensively in construction of buildings.
The tributaries of the Ganga west of the Son are smaller namely
the Kamamti, the Ojnala, the Khejuri, the Chatar, the Jurgo the Tons and
the Karmnasa. This river is another important river of the region.
Originating in the Kaimur hills and passing through Mirzapur district in
Uttar Pradesh, this river constitutes the western boundary of the district for about 170 Km and meets river Ganga near Chausa forming U.P.-Bihar border for a long distance. 18 19
The river Durgawati is also an important river of the region. Originating in the Kaimur hills, it flows in the northern direction and finally it merges into the river Karmnasa. The Durgawati is a perennial river.
The alluvial plain is drained by seasonal streams whose regime is characterized by floods and freshets after a shower particularly nearer the plateau. The contribution of these streams to the underground water reservoir is limited and the natural soil moisture is relatively low particularly towards the south where the declination of the surface is greater than in the northern part of the region. The greater slope of this region results in relatively rapid drainage as compared to north Bihar plain and flooding and silt deposition is confined to the vicinity of the Ganga. The Son normally carries water too little for its catchment because of the diversion of the major portion of its volume in the irrigation canals above Dehri.
CLIMATE
The climate of Ganga-Son Divide is transitional between the wet climate of Bengal and relatively the drier climate of Uttar Pradesh. The year can be divided into four seasons : (i) cold season (Nov. to Feb.), (ii) Hot weather season (Mar. to mid-June), (iii) Season of General Rains (mid-June to mid-Sept.) and (iv) Season of Retreating monsoon (mid-Sept, to Oct).
i) Cold Weather Season
The region enjoys a cold season from Nov. to Feb. The temperature slowly decreases until winter sets in. Cold weather season 20 is generally characterized by low temperature, light winds, clear skies and low humidity. The wind throughout the season is generally light and chiefly from west. These winds are sometimes very cold especially when there is snowfall in N-W India. It is this wind which brings rain to the region, though small in amount but very beneficial for the rahi crops and exceptionally suitable for the sugarcane crop. The absence of rains in certain years has affected the crop seriously. The period mid Dec. to mid-Jan. is coldest with night temperature going down to 10°C. In
January the mean temperature ranges from 15.5°C to 18.3°C. The month of February records slightly higher rains than in January. The rainfall of this season is almost uniformly distributed ranging around 26 mm - 78 mm. Cold waves may also set in as a result of the subsidence of the cold air and resultant inversion of temp is seen leading to fogs. In lower Son valley, the temperature during this season varies from 17°C to 22°C. The lowest temperature is observed during the month of January (Fig. 1.4c).
The relative humidity normally varies between 57 percent to 61 percent except in February when it is as low as 42 percent. ii) Hot Weather Season
The hot weather begins in March. The temperature rises gradually from 21°C in February (cold weather season) to 25°C in March and reaches ultimately to about 35.5°C in June. With the rise of temperature, humidity decreases continously. It is therefore, a period of continuously rising temperature and declining relative humidity. The hot diy weather is marked by weak winds and aridity. The hot scorching 'loo' wind blow in the region during late April and May having an average 21
CLIMATIC ELEMENTS AT DEHRI
A. CLIMOGRAPH
15 25 35 W 55 65 75V. 3(fC I r • • . ,_ 30C
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
B. MONTHLY RAINFALL C- TEMPERATURE fiOO
M A M J J A
MEAN MONTHLY MAXIMUM AVERAGE MONTHLV MEAli MONTHLY MINIMUM
Fig. 1.4A,B,C 22 velocity of 8-16 Kms per hour. They are local hot wind and greatly affects human comfort, thunderstorms etc. Occasional rainfall occurs in the form of thunder showers similar to the Norwesters of Bengal.
Norwesters though shortlined cause heavy rainfall with squally winds, thunder, lightening and hail and prove dangerous to crops, life and property. iii) Season of General Rains
The unbearable heat continues over most of the Ganga-Son divide till the S-W monsoon suddenly bursts. The season generally begins from the middle of June. The temperature declines continuously which is due to the rising relative humidity (Fig. 1.4 A). The temperature which is normally above 35°C in early June, declines to 28°C in Sept.
The heavy rainfall is the dominant feature of this season and comes in the wake of the SW monsoon. The season receives about 87 percent of the total annual rainfall which can be observed from Table 1.1
(1986-87) in both the districts of Bhojpur and Rohtas. The bulk of agricultural operations are carried on during this season. The water table rises up during this season and the wells, which are generally dry during
May and June, are filled with water. The distribution of rainy days in the study area is not uniform. The Rohtas has rain on only 50-60 days. The driest part of Bihar having less than 50 rainy days in a year found in northern Bhojpur. The rainy days are generally concentrated in the rainy season because the remaining period of the year is practically rainless. iv) Season of Retreating monsoon 23
00 es E2 o
o ri ON
00 I 00 < M3 0\
O E o oo' E
.Q
'5 e VO OO 00 C3 R o\ s e Z o in"
e> e ON 00 E2 o Z s d 00 o o
o D. 00
t3 4> C fiX) 3 o Q s o ei >n ON I 3 oo •n R 1-5 o 00 O e ro (N •^- (N -d-l (J t/3 5 etf o. p «rzf '^^ •>—i en J= o 3 O ^ o o a: QQ C/3 24 This is a transitional period between the season of general rains and the cold weather season. The temperature which is 28°C during Sept, lowers to 26.5°C during October. The relative humidity does not show any marked variation (Fig. 4A). The valley receives about 100 mm rainfall during this period. Though small in amount this rain is of immense value for 'aghani rice' and sugarcane and is required essentially for the maturing of these plants. The rainfall also help in the moisturing of the soil for the 'rahi' crop. The season is favourable for hard and efficient work and does not create any problem for the economic activities in the valley. The climate of Ganga-Son Divide is closely linked with the monsoon rhythm. Unfortunately monsoon rainfall is extremely variable, and may range from 45 to 60 percent more or less as compared to normal rainfall. This brings frequent floods on the one hand and drought on the other. The western portion is more susceptible to droughts while its northern part to floods. Degree of Comfort The climograph of the valley (Dehri observatory) depicts vividly the climatic features with respect to the working condition (Fig. 1.4A). On the whole, it may be observed that the climate of this valley is conducive to hard and efficient working except during the day hours, from April to August. But even during this period, the activities are continued except when the weather is very abnormal. To some extent, the discomfiture during this period has been sought to be reduced by the 25 proper ventilation system and provision of large size fans in the working places. SOILS GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BIHAR SOILS The region of Ganga-Son Divide consists of a thick alluvial mantle. The alluvial soil is relatively young, being rejuvenated by constant deposition of sand and silt brought by numerous streams. It is therefore, azonal, that is without marked profile development. The predominant soil type is loam. This soil is deficient in phosphoric acid, nitrogen and humus, but potash and lime are usually present in sufficient quantity. The soils of plateau and its fringe, composed mainly of ancient crystalline gneisses, schists and granites are known as 'Red Archean Soils'. The high ferric content of the rocks has imparted to the soil a deep red, brown and black colour. On account of pronounced climatic influence the soils do not vary so much as one would normally expect from the variations in geological formations of the region. The thickness of the soil is determined largely by the topography. The soils are to a great extent mature except in the areas where marked erosion and deposition have led to the rejuvenation of the soils. There are mainly two types of soils found in the Ganga-Son Divide. 1. RED SANDY SOIL OF THE KAIMUR PLATEAU This soil overlies the well defined Kaimur plateau in South Shahabad. As the plateau is mostly composed of the upper Kaimur 26 sandstones, the residual soils developed on it are usually sandy except in the saucer-shaped valleys which have a rich deposit of vegetable mould where the soils are mature except on marked slopes and bottom of hollows. Ferruginous content is often considerable. The soil varies from place to place. At some places it is coarse and at other it is stiff and shallow red clay, highly ferruginous at time passing into laterite and pisolitic iron ore. As a whole it forms a thin layer overlying the rocky substratum. It yields poor and precarious crops of millets and hardier rabi crops. At the foot of the outer slopes, gravelly soil is often intermixed with alluvium. The sandy and gravelly nature of the soil often keeps it arid and it is especially liable to erosion. It is therefore at places dissected into ravines. The red sandy soils are found mostly in the Rohtas and some part of Bhabua districts. 2. THE GANGETIC ALLUVIUM The entire Ganga-Son Divide is covered by alluvium except the southern part. This is divisible into two types, 'Bhanger' or old alluvium and 'Khader' or new alluvium (Fig. 1.5). More than half of this region is covered by older alluvium, Khadar is found only in narrow ribbons along the river Ganga. The former is found on the uplands and in areas further away from the main rivers - outside the zone of valley flats and adjoining uplands which generally consist of newer alluvium in lower levels - marking the sites of the older courses of streams. Bhangar is a heavier soil with a greater clay proportion than the Khadar.The higher proportion of clay makes the soil sticky and drainage is often poor. The Bhangar constitutes typical paddy lands of this region. Owing to poor 27 6ANGA-S0N DIVIDE N SOILS NDEX /^ NEWER ALLUVIUM OLDER ALLUVIUM RED SANDY SOIL 20 10 20 =1 Km Pig. 1.5 28 drianage and difficulty of tillage they are generally not suited to autumn crops. The soil is richer in lime content and Kankar-pam than the khadar. Accumulation of salts expressed in the form of saline efflorescence can often be seen in isolated patches. The soils are comparable to the poorly drained pedocals of China found in the Yangtze valley in the calcareous and saline alluvia. Bhangar soils are also known as Kewal soils. They are found in Bhabua, Buxar, Rohtas and Bhojpur. The Bhojpur they are known as Karail or heavy clay. Bhangar varies in character, texture, colour and fertility. Grey-greenish yellow coloured bhangar are found in Central Bhojpur. Generally wheat, sugarcane and paddy are grown in these soils. Small patches of saline and saline alkali soils are found in western Buxar along the bank of the river Karamnasa, where wheat, paddy, gram and linseeds are successfully grown. The hhangar uplands are reddish yellow to yellow. They are light to medium in texture and low to moderate in productivity. Khadar soils are more or less confined to a narrow belt in Bhojpur district. Khadar is renewed almost every year by the rivers, and covers most of the riverine tracks. It is generally a light friable loam with a higher admixture of sand and silt. The higher content of sand keeps the Khadar soils, except in river beds perfectly drained and makes it par excellence for the autumn and rahi crops which do not need water-logged conditions. The soil is generally highly leached. Diaraland of Buxar and Bhojpur lying in the west and northern part of the districts are characterized by young alluvium. The soils of diara are very fertile but due to waterlogging for a considerable period kharif or monsoon crops cannot be successfully grown. Rahi or spring crops like 29 wheat, barley, gram, peas, lentil etc. are sown after the water dries up. AGRICULTURE Agriculture is the most dominant economic activity in this region, it may be realised from the fact that about 80 percent of the population draws sustenance from agriculture. The majority of people of Ganga-Son Divide have no occupation apart from agriculture, while one is every twenty of those engaged in non-agricultural pursuits supplements his income by owning or tilling some land or by working at intervals as a field labourer. Therefore the success or failure of the crops every year is a matter of vital importance, because as much as about 90 percent of the total cropped area is devoted to foodcrops against the national average of only 75 percent. Paddy, wheat, maize and barley are the main cereal crops of this region. Among pulses, gram occupies the maximum area followed by lentil, arhar and peas. Sugarcane and potatoes are the main cash crops. There are three marked agricultural harvests e.g. Bhadai or autumn, Aghani or winter, and Rahi or spring harvest. The Bhadai season mainly consists of quick maturing crops like rice, maize, millets and jute. They are harvested in august and September. The chief aghani crop is paddy which is uniformly grown in this region. It is harvested in november and december. The rahi includes a large number of crops such as wheat, barley, pulses and oilseeds. Rabi is harvested in march. Rabi harvest is increasingly becoming important because it reduces the dependence of the farmers upon uncertain monsoon rainfall. Garma 30 harvest consists of a large number of crops including paddy, maize, vegetables and fruit but the total area under this crop is quite small, due to high temperature and lack of irrigation. Most of holdings are badly fragmented and subdivided owing to a high pressure of population and the laws of inheritance. This results in unscientific farming practices and poor input of fertilizers and seeds. This results in poor productivity of crops. The Ganga-Son Divide has emerged as a distinct agricultural region with uniform crop pattern which is characterized by the dominance of rice, wheat and gram in order of acreage. One reason is the uniformity of climatic conditions, particularly the amount of rainfall, cloudiness, humidity and temperature. The other reason is the presence of canals and other means of irrigation ensuring the cultivaiton of certain crops. IRRIGATION FACILITIES The river Son, Karamnara and Durgawati are the perennial sources of surface water in districts of Rohtas and Bhabua while river Son, Ganges and its tributaries are the perennial sources of surface water in districts of Bhojpur and Buxar. In all the districts of Ganga-Son Divide they provide irrigation to major portion of agricultural lands. The other sources of irrigation are artificial reservoirs - ahars and pynes,^fie\\s and the Son canal all of which help to supplement the natural supply of water and to compensate for its inadequacy or untimely distribution. The sources of artificial irrigation however, are of minor importance as compared to the Son canal system which has been the 31 most important source of irrigation in this region. The remodelling of Son canal system known as the Son Barrage project had been done recently in order to improve upon the Son irrigation system. The remodelled Son canal system irrigates an additional area of about 1.7 lakh acres of Kharif, 40 thousand acres of rahi and 11 lakh acres of hot weather crops within the Son Command. There are certain pockets in the hilly regions of Adhaura, Chainpur, Rohtas, Bhagwanpur, Nauhatta and Chenari blocks where it does not seem possible to create any sizeable irrigational facilities except to use underground water. The rain water stored in tanks also provide irrigation during Kharif and rabi seasons. However, there is ample scope for supplementary irrigation by tube-wells. Large areas of Bhabua districts i.e. Bhabua, Mohania, Ramgarh, Chainpur and Chand blocks and blocks of Sasaram subdivision i.e. Chenari, Kudra, Sheosagar, Sasaram etc. can be brought under effective irrigation by tube-wells. COMMUNICATIONS The region of Ganga-Son Divide is fairly rich in road communication. The district of Rohtas has a fairly good system of road communication. The Grand Trunk road traverses within the district. This old road has been improved a lot, and serves as the main road link between Calcutta and Delhi. The Grand Chord line of Eastern Railway runs for 80 kilometres while the Dehri-Rohtas Light Railway runs for 66 Kms. in the district. Similarly Bhabua has a fairly good system of road communication. The Grand Trunk Road and the Grand Cord line of Eastern Railway runs through the district. The district of Bhojpur and 32 Buxar has good network of road communication. Arrah, the district headquarter of Bhojpur, is on the main line of the Eastern Railway. It enters the district at Koilwar on the east and moves via Buxar to Mughal Sarai on the west. CREDIT FACILITIES The Central Co-operative Banks located in the important towns of Bhojpur and Rohtas districts work as the pivot of co-operative banking and credit. All the co-operative societies are supposed to be affiliated to these banks for credit facility. These banks extend finance only to co-operative institutions which in turn pass on the same to their members. Financing by these banks is restricted to short-term and medium term loans for agricultural purposes only. Short-term loans are advanced to agriculturist members to meet their needs such as seeds, manures etc. Medium-term loans are advanced for purchase of livestocks, agricultural implements etc. Commercial Banks are situated at Sasaram, Dehri, Bhabua, Bikramganj, Mohania blocks etc. Chapter-2 REVIEW OF AVAILABLE LITERATURE Foodgrains consist of cereals and grain legumes, they are a principal dietary source accounting for a major share of calories, proteins and other nutrients for human population in developing countries. Massive investment have been made to raise their production levels to meet the food needs of growing populations. Such efforts cannot fulfil the goals of meeting food and nutritional levels without matching care to reduce, if not completely eliminate, post-harvest losses both qualitative and quantitative caused by vairous physical, biological and mechanical factors. Thus, elimination of foodlosses in the post-harvest technology is one of the most important problems of the world. Numerous authors have made studies to estimate the post harvest losses in food grains based on laboratory experiment as well as in field. It is therefore, essential to review the literature regarding the losses in post-harvest operations. Wolfe and Kipps (1959) in the book "Production of field crops" including 'Harvesting, storage and Marketing of Grain crops', discussed the proper stage for harvesting, various methods and machinery for harvesting different crops and associated losses. They also suggested methods of storage in order to minimize the losses of food grains caused by defective methods of storage which leads to the grading of agricultural products for markets.' Cox and Jackson (1960) in an article entitled "Harvesting and Storing Crops" dealt with various principles of harvesting and storing, such as timing the harvest, machinery in harvesting moisture and 34 temperature control, cost of storage in order to secure high quality and quantity of cereal crops to get better returns.^ The Food and Agriculture Organisation (1969) has examined the storage problems in the developing countries. It attempted to eliminate the losses in the United States of America and India and further discussed the shortcomings of the estimates so far reported. In earlier report (1962) it examined the problems in the storage of food- crops in Africa, Freetown, Sierra Leone with reference to the fractional storage practices for 12 commodities and losses due to insects, moisture and rodents and made recommendations regarding the loss, evaluation improved storage techniques, use of chemicals control of rodents and the need for a storage manual.^ Pingle, S.V. et al. (1972) in the proceedings of the seminar on the Post-harvest Technology of Foodgrains, covered the problems of losses in harvesting, drying, procesisng, storage and transport with respect to cereals and pulses. Fifty-four papers were presented and discussed at the seminar dealing with the problems of (i) harvesting and losses that occur in different techniques of harvesting (ii) mechanization of markets (iii) drying of foodgrains after harvest and drying during processing (iv) storage and transport and (v) by-product utilization.'' Sexena (1975) in his book "Geography of Transport and market centres" has established a functional relationship between transportation and market centres in the Hadaoti Plateau of South-Eastern Rajasthan. The study is based on collection, compilation, analysis and interpretation of data obtained from published and unpublished sources 35 and suggested the roads should be made all weather by providing bridges and other engineering facilities.^ Dakshinamurthy, A. et al. (1976) in their article entitled "Plastic Silo -A modern storage structure" attempts to solve the storage problem created by high price, shortage of gunny bags and the loss caused by insects, rats and other pests. A storage structure named as plastic silo has been evolved to meet the storage problem which is a plastic bin of 500 kg capacity. During storage studies it has been found that it is cheaper than gunny bags, pest infestation is minimum, easy for transportation, safe from rats and can be used in rainy season. It has also some disadvantages and suggestions were made to provide silo with an air tight lid and an outlet for the removal of the stored produce.^ Harein, P.K. (1976) examined the losses resulting from stored grains insects and stressed the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to loss reduction from insect damage to stored produce. He has cited that the loss due to insects on an average was about 10 percent in the United States of America. He cites 100 insects responsible for all the damage to stored products and 20 of these are considered as major pests. He also mentioned biological control such as sterile male techniques and chemical repellants.^ The Food and Agriculture Organisation. (1977) has presented an account in the reports regarding the post-harvest crop losses, in the developing countries. Losses in cereals, fruits vegetables, animal products and fish product have been covered in this manual. It has also been proposed to organise loss assessment programmes in the 36 countries which could be implemented as an integral part of loss reduction programmes.** Pandya, A.C. et al. (1980) from the report "Post-Harvest Technology in India" reported that post-harvest technology refers to various treatment and operations carried out on harvested crop for the preservation or enhancement of quality for marketing. It has capability to meet food requirement of growing population by eliminating avoidable losses, developing more nutritive food items from low grade raw commodity, proper processing and economic utilization of organic wastes and by-products. It also has great potential for generating rural employment. India has made stride in developing infrastructure in the field of post harvest technology through various research agencies such as CSIR, ICAR etc. These agencies have made a substantial progress in post-harvest technology of various crops.'^ Singer (1980) in an article entitled "Post-Harvest Food Losses world over-view" examined with the losses of cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables that takes place between harvest and the market place or the food processor. It contains detailed reports.from many countries on the extent of losses and efforts made to ameliorate the situation. In Iran total wheat losses were 15 per cent, mostly in urban stores due to substandard rodent infested buildings. In Pakistan, over all grains losses are 5 per cent in normal circumstances but far higher in poor years. In Sudan, losses are 20 per cent of grains. Post harvest losses of grains is as high as 10-30 per cent but would be reduced to a maximum of 20 per cent by improved practices. India accounts for 9.3 per cent grains loss 37 mostly due to rodent and insect attack. It is now much more important to concentrate upon the identification of particular points in post- harvest systems at which avoidable wastage occurs and introduction of economically and sociologically valid modifications to avert or reduce such wastage.'" Raheja and Mehrotra (1980) under the head "A study of food grains storage facilities practices and problems in Delhi state" discussed that the main problems with existing storage were susceptibility to rodent attack, insect infestation on account of moisture and short life or temporary nature of the storage as in case of bags or thekka. The main reasons for not adopting protective measures were high cost of chemicals as also lack of knowledge in the use of such measures. Thus the extension effort would have to be strengthened to educate the farmers in proper storage as well as in adopting suitable protective measures to minimize grain losses in storage.'' Kumbhare and Sirohi (1981) in their paper entitled "An Application of Linear Programming in Transportation and Storage of Wheat" dealt with the optimal spatial distribution of storage capacity and interstate movements involved in the transitory phase of getting the optimum storage quantities of wheat. The linear programming model aims at minimisation of costs of transportation and storage both in surplus and deficit states. The result revealed that the storage space requirement were directly related with the assumed level of initial stocks and storage space needed to be larger in surplus states to minimize the transportation and storage costs.'^ 38 The Food and Agricultural Organisation (1983) under the title "Post Harvest losses in quality of food grains" realized the gravity of the problem of food losses on world-wide level, called for a 50 per cent reduction in overall losses by mid-1980s. Post harvest losses could be qualitative and quantitative and are attributed by several factors such as chemical changes, micro-organisms, mites, rodents and insects. Spoilage losses are reflected in several ways such as weight loss, food loss, quality loss and monetary loss.'^ Shafi (1983) in his article "Food systems in the Developing and Developed World", discussed the need to consider the entire foodsystem in the developing and developed world from the initial production stage to final utilization stages. It is estimated that between 1952-72 the food production increased by hardly 3 percent whereas post production losses exceeded 30 percent . Therefore, post production losses should be minimized so that the food requirement of growing population can be fulfilled.'^ FAO (1984) under the title "Postharvest food losses" has described that a great deal of food that is grown and harvested never reaches the people or livestock it is meant to feed. Atleast 10 per cent of harvested cereals are lost. In some countries losses are much higher. Crops are damaged during harvesting, drying, storing, processing, packing and distribution . Biological loss come from perishable food spoiling and from damage by pests. Improved storage and handling of crops can make more food available. In 1977, FAO established a special Action Programme for the prevention of food losses.Priority was given 39 to the problems that small farmers have storing cereals, roots and tubers." Ministry of Agriculture (1985) in the report "Marketable surplus and post Harvest losses of Bajra in India" has conducted surveys on the marketing of agricultural commodities. Prior, not much factual information regarding different procedures of marketing of different agricultural commodites were available. These surveys has provided the basic Information on the structure of marketing and related details.'^ Shafi (1985) in a commission on comparative research in Food systems discussed the scientific basic and the philosophy of food system with particular reference to "On Production Technology" and "Post Harvest Technology". The interaction of various processes and the food losses involved in harvesting, transport, storage distribution and consumption were examined in depth. The following resolution were passed that specific problems on food systems be taken up intensively in the light of the conceptual framework.'^ Jain and Sharma (1986) in their paper entitled "Agricultural Marketing in Madhya Pradesh" attempted to analyze the distributional pattern of the regulated mandis with the view to recognise the poorly served regions and to establish the relationship of the mandis with the density of population and agricultural productivity.'^ David and Peter (1986) in the book "Dry Area Agriculture, Food Science and Human Nutrition" stated that it is possible to increase food supplies by atleast 10 percent if food losses occuring at various stages of post harvest is prevented through the development or by use 40 of improved technologies. The technologies to be used must be based on modern science, but they must be socio-economically viable and appropriate if they are to succeed in achieving the objective of a better quality of life. The traditional practice has several disadvantages and is responsible for food losses both qualitatively and quantitatively.'' Shafi (1987) in his article "Government Policy and Food systems in India" discussed the food system alongwith food security and social security. Government policy about market incentive,credit opportunities and type of government subsidies and services have a profound impact on food production and its distribution. Therefore, food system not only in India, but perhaps in all the developing countries should adopt an integrated system of approach towards an effective system of public distribution.^*' Satyabrata, et al. (1988) in book "Handbook of Annual Oilseeds Crop" examined that harvesting of oilseed too early reduces the oil content and seed viability drastically. Shattering is no problem with new varieties except when very overmature then harvesting is recommended in the early morning hours. Harvesting should be done when their stems and pods become yellow and they give a rattling sound in the pod when shaken. It should be completed within a week.-^' Chakraverty (1988) in his book 'Post-Harvest Technology of Cereals, Pulses and Oilseeds" deals with principles, processes, operations, designs and other aspects of drying, parboiling, milling and by-products utilisations of common cereals, pulses and oilseeds. Special emphasis is placed on specifications, designs and testing 41 procedures of modern grain dryers, and husk fired furnaces and physio- chemical properties of cereal grain.-* Misra (1988) in his book "Community Storage of foodgrains" assessed the storage losses, causes of losses, safe storage period, prevention of storage losses and arrangements of storage methods in the village around Delhi. He also developed a linear programming model for community storage of food grains.'-' Sexena (1988) in his book "Rural Market and Development" provides a comprehensive and coherent survey of the structure and organisation of rural marketing in Rajasthan. The primary focus of present study is on periodic markets, suggesting a strategy for their devleopment.'^ Nawab Ali (1988) in his paper "Strategies for increasing oil productivity through Post-Harvest processes and Technology" states that appropriate post harvest process and technology for oilseeds have great potential to augment present supply of vegetable oil. Harvesting oilseed crop at an optimum stage increases the field yield in the range of 5-15 per cent depending upon the oilseed crop. Improved storage practices and facilities will minimise quantitative and qualitative deterioration of oilseed and result is more and better quality oil recovery. Proper cleaning, dehulling, conditioning of oilseed will improve the throughout capacity of the oil milling machinery minimise wear and tear and provide best quality oil and cake. 10-12 per cent oil in the expeller cake which is either directly fed to the cattle or used as manure, can be recovered partially using improved conditioning 42 treatment of oilseeds and improved design of oil ^hanis and expellers." Anwar Alam (1988) in his paper "Post-Harvest processing and Technologies towards increasing oil productivity" states that post- harvest technologies appropriate at rural threshold can be one of the instruments and stimulater of oilseed production and productivity' in the country. Aspects that deserve attention include minimisation of harvest and post-harvest losses, bringing improvement in existing processes and equipment that minimise residual oil in first stage crushing, interject new processes and equipment for oil extraction and diversify use of oilseed crops. Steps are needed to assure oilseed marketing based on moisture content of oil and quality of oil with differential payment in favour of quality.-^ Shafi (1989) in his article "Minimizing the losses in Foodgrains in Storage - An aspect of Post-Harvest Technology" dealt with defective storage facilities due to which storage losses occur to the extent of 6 to 8 per cent. There is an urgent need to achieve a high rate of growth in food production, but not much attention has been paid to minimize the losses that takes place in storage, transport, processing and marketing of foodgrains. The total food grains production in India in 1980-81 was 137 million tonnes and estimated storage loss was about 10 million tonnes. Therefore, efforts should be made to minimize this loss, and if possible to eliminate it. To minimize these losses, a large programme of construction of storage facility is desired.'"' 42 treatment of oilseeds and improved design of oil ^hatus and expellers.^' Anwar Alam (1988) in his paper "Post-Harvest processing and Technologies towards increasing oil productivity" states that post- harvest technologies appropriate at rural threshold can be one of the instruments and stimulater of oilseed production and productivity in the country. Aspects that deserve attention include minimisation of harvest and post-harvest losses, bringing improvement in existing processes and equipment that minimise residual oil in first stage crushing, interject new processes and equipment for oil extraction and diversify use of oilseed crops. Steps are needed to assure oilseed marketing based on moisture content of oil and quality of oil with differential payment in favour of quality.-^ Shafi (1989) in his article "Minimizing the losses in Foodgrains in Storage - An aspect of Post-Harvest Technology" dealt with defective storage facilities due to which storage losses occur to the extent of 6 to 8 per cent. There is an urgent need to achieve a high rate of growth in food production, but not much attention has been paid to minimize the losses that takes place in storage, transport, processing and marketing of foodgrains. The total food grains production in India in 1980-81 was 137 million tonnes and estimated storage loss was about 10 million tonnes. Therefore, efforts should be made to minimize this loss, and if possible to eliminate it. To minimize these losses, a large programme of construction of storage facility is desired.'^ 43 Munir, et al. (1989) in their article entitled "Food Crop System in UP. with reference to Post-Harvest Technology" discussed the post-harvest technology selecting one village from western and eastern Uttar Pradesh respectively and arrived at the conclusion that one-fourth of the produce is lost in harvesting, threshing, storage, transportation and marketing. Therefore, these losses should be minimized so that more people can be fed.^* Amar (1989) in his paper "Tenuity of Rural Transport in Food Marketing in Aligarh District, Uttar Pradesh" discussed the role of rural transport in food marketing in Aligarh district and suggested a marketing system with a network of all weathered rural roads linking the farms to the central village and the central village to the rural town.^^ Gaur (1989) in the paper entitled "Marketing, Transport and Storage in relation to food production, distribution and consumption in Koil Tehsil, Aligarh district" has examined in depth the storage transport and marketing in relation to food production, distribution and consumption in Koil Tehsil and recommended more efficient means of storage and transport in order to enable each village to become an organic unit in the total economic structure of the area.^" Thompson (1989) in his book post-harvest Technology of fruits and vegetables under the heading - "Quality, losses and production factors" examined that losses after harvest are a major source of human food loss. The loss can vary between 0 and 100 per cent depending on 44 the observer's consideration for losses which can be economic, physical, cosmetic or nutritional.^' Nawab AH (1989) in his article "Improving soybean harvest Index and its Availability through Post-Harvest Practices and Equipment", examined in depth that existing post harvest losses of soybean are about 16 per cent between the farms and oil extraction plants, decreasing the annual soybean availability by about 1.5 lakh tonnes at processing or utilization point. The 16 per cent loss can be brought down to about 5 per cent through appropriate post production practices and equipment such as harvesting the crop at an optimum stage of maturity (14-16% grain moisture). Other improved indigenous storage facilities such as Pusa bin, stone bin, Nanda bin, careful handling and management of soybean stock of solvent extraction plants. These improved practices and equipment may provide an additional one lakh tonne of soybean (worth Rs. 550 million) from the same crop area.'' Jeswani and Baldev, ICAR (1990) in their book "Advances in Pulse Production Technology" discussed the efforts to increase the production of pulses need to be supplemented by efforts to minimize losses at various stages so that the net availability is increased. There is a sizeable loss of pulses in quantity and quality during the post- harvest operations, like threshing (0.5%) transport (0.5%) processing (1.0%) and storage (7.5%) with a total loss to the extent of 9.5%. Post harvest technology has to be given a special place so that whatever we 45 produce, minimum is lost is in post-harvest handling, until it is consumed. Thus the availability to the common man can be augmented.^' Prabhakar (1990) in the paper "Rice Bran a major source of Edible Oil - New Technologies", analysed that Rice bran - a by-product of the rice milling industry on an average contains 15 per cent oil than can go up to 26 per cent in bran from parboiled rice. The oil potential from this source is of the order of 6.75 lakh tonnes and is likely to increase with increase in production of paddy. Two problems have restricted the complete utilizaiton of bran for edible oil production. First, is the problem of raw bran management due to high lipase activity and secondly the high wax content and high refining losses of the oil.'^ Shukia (1990) in his paper "Storage condition and structures for oilseeds" has made an attempt to gather all the available information on the storage of oilseeds so that it could be practiced at users level to overcome the immediate problem of storage of oilseeds to some extent. The paper also describes some of the feasible storage structures which have been found suitable for oilseeds by the research workers.^' McCollum (1992) in his book under the head "Harvesting and Post-harvesting Handling" discussed that potato should be harvested before the ground freezes and crop should be handled as gently as possible during harvest and storage since a substantial loss can occur from mechanical damage to tubers. Good storage should prevent excessive loss of moisture, development of rots, growth of sprouts and accumulation of sugars, since high sugar levels tends to result in dark coloured processed products.^'' 46 Kachru, et al. (1992) in the consultancy report on "Technology - Management gaps in Post-Production of Oilseeds in M.P." discussed that the gap between demand and supply of vegetable oil in the state is mainly due to considerable variation in the total output of oilseeds and their low productivity, supplemented by lack of suitable post- production and management practices in using outdated methods and inefficient equipment and under utilization of capacity of organised solvent extraction plants.^' Singh, Chhidda. (1993) in the book - Modern Techniques of Raising field crops under the subtitle "Rice-Harvesting and Threshing" discussed that timely harvesting ensures good grain quality, consumer acceptance, since the grains is less likely to break when milled. Freshly threshed rice spoils rapidly because of high moisture content in the grains. They should be dried well before storage.•"' Singh, Jai. (1993) a report on "Storage of oilseeds and their products" has reported that to minimize the gap between demand and supply there is a great need to improve the yield and post-harvest technology of oilseeds and its product. It is estimated that more than 0.5 million tonnes oil is lost annually during processing. There is loss in the quality and quantity of oilseed cakes also. The main cause of this loss is improper storage of oilseeds and their products. Thus, there is need to develop coordination among oil millers, feed manufacturers. vanaspati/refine units and public distribution system to minimise losses during handling, storage and transportation.'^ 47 Ramakrishna, S. et al. (1994) in the article "Store Jaggery in Powder form and use for longer time", discussed that if jaggery is kept in powder form in polythyene bags or bottles would be stored for longer time that is more than a year and even during monsoon period without any loss in quality and quantity and without any change in taste. Whereas jaggery stored in brick form turn liquid during monsoon period Jaggery powder has more nutritive value than sugar. Jaggery consist of glucose, fructose, protein, fats, calcium, phosphates, iron, copper which are not found in sugar/" CFTRI, (1994) under the article "Modified Atmosphere Packaging of Vegetables : An Appraisal" analysed that modified atmosphere packing (MAP) is becoming increasingly popular as an effective supplement to refrigeration as it extend the storage life of fresh produce either in whole or lightly processed form and also help in the retention of the quality of the product. Post harvest losses in vegetables are high not only in less developed countries but also in developed countries. The factors which influence the storage-life and quality either independently or in combination, form the basis of the post-harvest technology for the extention of storage life and retention of the quality of vegetables.^' Mishra (1994) in his paper "Status of Post Harvest Technology in Orissa with special reference to Rice" reports that most of the farmer in Orissa follow post harvest practices in a traditional manner. Threshing is done either by hand or bullock treading. Cleaning of threshed paddy is done mostly by hand, winnowing method using a 'kula' 48 made of bamboo strips. The traditional storage structures include gunny bags, straw bins, bamboo bins and mud kothi. Milling is done by traditional hullers and for transportation mostly bullock carts are used in the villages. Thus the future research thrust for the rice farmers of this region would be on developing low cost post harvest equipment.^' Singh, Jabar (1994) in his paper "Status of Post Harvest Technology and Agro-processing in Rajasthan", states that the status of post harvest activities in the state of Rajasthan is almost non-existent at producer's level except small oil ghani, rice hullers, flour mills and gur units, all other food processing industries are located in the cities and town. The processed items reach the rural consumers at an added price. Therefore, to meet the increased costs of inputs to the agricultural production systems, the adoption of improved post harvest system at rural level is most vital.^-' Sawant and Achuthan (1995) in a paper entitled "Public Distribution System in India : Why to Revamp it" dealt with the public distribution system in India which represented a direct intervention by the Government in food market. It involves subsidised distribution of the limited quantities of essential goods such as cereals, sugar, edible oil etc. The distribution of cereals assumes crucial importance as it is supposed to protect consumption of the poor by ensuring their availability at reasonable prices. It is suggested that PDS alone would not be enough to protect the poor. The poor must be helped to reach a critical minimum level of income so that their economic access to the public distribution system would be ensured.^^ 49 Srivastava, P.K. (1995) in RNAM project report on "Enhancing Employment Opportunities for Rural Women" presented in Thailand has discussed that mechanisation of agriculture displaces and relieves women of drudgery of field operations it deprives them of immediate and assured wages which augment household income. Thus, there is a need to provide alternative employment opportunities preferably in the rural rather than in the urban areas. The various PHFP activities such as primary, secondary and tertiary processing of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, processing and preservation of fruits and vegetables, processing of spices, processing and preservation of milk and milk product etc. will generate employment opportunities most of which are suitable for women.^' Srivastava, P.K. et al. (1995) in their booklet entitled "Appropriate Agribased Technologies for Rural Women" have described that cleaner and graders, driers, dehullers, decorticators and shellers etc. are some post harvest equipments which may easily be used by farm women for conducting various unit operations like cleaning, grading, dehulling, milling or expelling etc. of cereals, pulses, oilseed, fruits and vegetables, spices etc. Their adoption may increase the overall productivity by scientific conservation eliminating avoidable losses and making available more nutritive food and high value products from low grade raw materials. This would ensure greater financial returns and employment opportunities.^^' Singh and Verma (1995) in "Post Harvest Technology of Oilseeds" have stated that our present production of oilseeds is 50 insufficient to meet per capita oil and fat requirement of 18 gm/day. The estimated demand for vegetable oil upto 2000 AD will be 8.75 mt against the expected production of 5.15 mt. It is estimated that more than 0.5 mt oil is lost annually during processing due to lack of appropriate post-harvest technology and improper storage of oilseeds and their products. Greatest care of oilseeds should be taken during storage as it contributes the maximum 10-15 per cent to all losses taking place at vairous post harvest stages.^^ Henry and Kettlewell (ed) (1996) in a book entitled "Cereal Grains Quality" under the subhead 'Milling Quality' have discussed that rice milling consists of removal of hulls, bran and germ with a minimum breakage of endosperm. Grain breakage during processing is a serious problem in all rice growing areas. The major causes of breakage of grains during milling are checking and chalky grains. Other factor that contribute to milling quality include moisture content and infestation, together with grains shape and hardness. The type and design of milling equipment may also influence milling results as could the design of harvesting equipment.'** The Hindu (1996), Survey of Indian Agriculture, states that the grains losses can be averted through proper drying of the produce using simple solar dryers and storing the produce in properly designed storage structures will prevent losses due to rodents, insects and fungal attacks. The crop residues and by-products can be used for making a variety of finished products at the village. This will generate off farm jobs for skilled and semi-skilled youth and women in the village.'"^ 51 Singh, Gajendra and Singh, Gyanendra (1996) in their article "Equipment to suit local needs" have discussed that delayed harvesting during kharif hampers seed bed preparation and sowing of rahi crop. Reapers operated by engine, power tiller and tractor have been developed and introduced for harvesting wheat, paddy, soybean, ragi and mustard. Combine harvesting of wheat, paddy and soybean has been accepted in regions suffering from labour shortage. Traditionally, wheat and barley are threshed by bullocks which result in considerable loss and poor quality grains. This has been gradually replaced by power threshers operated by 5-15 hp engine or electric motor. Paddy is easy to thresh by beating but losses are quite high. Thus pedal operated paddy threshers become popular which also reduces drudgery. 5i> Singh, S.P. (1997) in his book - Principles of vegetables production under the head "Harvesting of Vegetable Crops" advocates that hand picking is the best if sufficient labourers are available. The quality and yield both are maintained high by manual harvesting. On commercial scale, when labour becomes limiting factor, machine harvesting is adopted, viz. potato digger can be used for harvesting potatoes and peas are harvested mechanically without difficulty." Verma, S.R. et al. (1997) in their paper entitled "Appraisal of Cotton and Sugarcane Mechanization Needs" have reviewed briefly the mechanization trends and status for both these crops and pointed out the need to introduce the appropriate mechanization technology for these crops.^- 52 Krishnamurthy, S. et al. (1997), during third Agri-Science Congress, discussed in their article entitled "Post Harvest Management of fruits and Vegetables" that since India has emerged as the largest producer of fruits and second largest producer of vegetables, the estimated demand of 44 and 103 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables by 2000 AD can mainly be met by prevention of enormous post harvest losses which can play a key role in enhancing the availablity. The shelf life of mango can be extended by holding hot water treated mango at 15°C for 3 weeks followed by ripening at ambient conditions. Tomato harvested at breaker stage have an extended shelf life and optimum quality at 12°C storage.*^ Singh and Verma (1997) in their paper "Prospects and Perspective of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology in India" have reviewed the status of major agro-processing industries and highlighted the future challenges in PHET showing R and D needs. The paper also, in brief, highlighted the issues and strategies for development of PHET which were expected to be the main mandates of R and D institution like CIPHET.'^ Girish (1997) in the paper "Post Harvest Technology at Farm level" has stated that nearly two-third of the total foodgrains produced in the country are retained at farm level where considerable losses take place both in quantity and quality due to insects, rodents and other factors as the storage conditions at farm level are not proper. For minimising the losses, the Ministry of Food have been implementing rural-based scheme of save Grain Compaign. At present 17 save grain 53 teams situated in different parts of the country are operating in selected areas in close collaboration of state government. The major planks of the compaign are Training, Demonstration and Publicity." Chitra and Singh (1998) in the article "Effect of Storage on cooking quality characteristics of Grain legumes" have stated that several changes, which influence the cooking and nutritional quality occur during storage. Long storage period under tropical conditions result in a 'hard-to-cook' characteristics, which is the drawback in leguminous seeds. However legumes stored at 5°C and low humidity maintained relatively constant cooking times throughout storage. This study confirms that high temp, adversely affects the cooking quality of legumes.'^ Kashyap and Arora (1999) in their article "Store Foodgrains with Care" have noticed that by storing grains in bins instead of traditional storage, a substantial amount of produce can be saved. Moreover, the amount and labour spent on traditional storage will be saved and the quality of grains is maintained which will fetch more price in the market." Narang and Sharma (1999) in an article "Avoid grain losses in Storage" have examined that approximately 40 per cent of the total wheat produced are retained with the farmers for food, feed and seed requirements. Wheat stocks worth 40 crores of rupees are destroyed by the stored grain pests in the Punjab state annually during storage. If this enormous wastage of foodgrains is avoided the growers will be in a position to spare 10 to 15 per cent more foodgrains as surplus to meet 54 the requirement of increasing population. There are three main sources of infestation that is contaminated stores or godowns old gunny bags and old infested stocks. Thus, all the godown should be emptied and thoroughly cleaned. The gunny bags should be disinfested by dipping them in 0.0125 per cent fenvalerate and dry them in shade, and old stocks should not be kept along the new stocks.'* AJam, A. (1999) under the head "Keeping pace with change" has discussed that the most common post harvest operations continue to be drying and dehydration for which proper machines are not available. The thrust should be on the development of appropriate drying and dehydration equipment for field crops, horticultural crops and fisheries to minimise losses in their handling, safer storage and transport.'^ Chapter-3 PATTERN OF LANDUSE AND CROP PRODUCTION The economic development and the prosperity of the rural masses in Ganga-Sone Divide mainly depend upon sound agriculture base. Crop production by and large can be increased by increasing area under cultivation, multiple cropping and raising the yields of crops or hectare by the application of new agricultural technology and by the reorganisation of institutional factors. However, it would be worthwhile to study the existing pattern of landuse in Ganga-Son Divide. Landuse of any place varies according to the variation in the spatial distribution of sunshine, rainfall, topography of the land, drainage condition, availability of minerals and the location of human habitation in relation to the market centres and transportation lines. The spatial differentiation of these elements affects the purpose and character of landuse. The whole land of the earth's surface has potential value for some use or group of uses although the area suited for any one use is often quite limited. The concept of landuse has been developed to serve practical purpose and implies interaction between land and environment. The basic aim of landuse survey is to record the distribution of land under various uses in different scoio-economic and environmental conditions and to put the resources to improved uses based on scientific principles, and without any degradation. The landuse planning is thus, needed with changing needs and pressure. The function of the landuse planning is to guide decisions on landuse in such a way that all the available resources of the environment are put to the most beneficial use together with their conservation for future.It li^ the primary duty of the landuse planners to L/^ ^ \ -7 A 56 study the various land characteristics in respect of different natural aspect, and suggest best use under defined management practices for sustained utilisation. Any alternative use of land suggested should be without disturbing the ecological balance of the area. The meaning of landuse is restricted to various uses that are given to land, but in this use we find sheds of overuse, underuse and misuse which assist us to make a diagnosis for administering the proper dose to attain optimum landuse. The present chapter is entirely based on availability of data till 1990 which consist only two districts i.e. Bhojpur and Rohtas in the study region. The districts of Buxar and Bhabua came into existence in 1991. The district of Buxar was carved out from Bhojpur while Bhabua was carved out from Rohtas district. LANDUSE PROFILE Landuse records are officially classified under the following major categories - i) Reporting area for land utilization purposes ii) Forest iii) Barren and unculturable land iv) Land put to non-agricultural uses v) culturable waste vi) Permanent pastures and other grazing lands vii) Land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves not included in net sown area. 57 viii) Current fallow land ix) Other fallow land x) Net area sown xi) Area sown more than once xii) Total cropped area Broadly, we can bring all the different uses of land into two major classes of land, viz. arable and non-arable. The landuse categories of net sown area current fallow, other fallow, groves and orchards etc. can conveniently be put under arable group. This includes all the different categories of cultivable land, whereas the landuse categories of culturable waste, barrenland, permanent pastures, land put to non- agricultural uses etc. in the existing circumstances are grouped as non- arable. GENERAL LANDUSE CHARACTERISTICS The landuse pattern of Ganga-Son Divide has been examined at different points of time from 1980-81 to 1989-90 as depicted in Table 3.1 Forest The total reporting area in Ganga-Son Divide has remained constant which is 1138 thousand hectares in 1981-82 declined only marginally and remained at 1137 thousand hectare in 1987-88. The area under forest has maintained the constant trend from 1981-82 to 1989-90 at 180 thousand hectares which constitutes on an average 15.81 per cent of the reporting area. In Rohtas district, forests are found in the Kaimur hills though they have suffered immensely in the recent past. 58 u 00 o «n ^—^ ^*-v /-^ »n ON" d ON ON o\ o NO o o 1 00 o o ON o o d d d 00 00 o o ON 00 «-^ *"" •^ "^ Ti- ^" fS rl- "•^ >o r- r*^ '"' 00 00 00 oo iri d 00 ri 00 ON ON oo «n oo o 1 NO o d 00 00 o d d d *n ON 0\ 00 o 00 o Tt fN Tt o ^" ^" *"• ^* ^" ^" >o r- m '"' ON I ON 00 NO ON 00 00 00 VO •n ^—V ^—V ^—V ^ rs d ON ON NO 00 NO 1 m o 00 o 00 d d NO QO o d ed I ON 00 m o o u 1-N "«* m rt- NO r- fn 00 "^ ed ON 60 3 •^- c rT 00 r-^ u oo This area is largely covered with wild growth. There is vast stretches of bamboo in this area. Sal trees of poor quality are also found. The forest of the district are not rich in their products. Firewood is the most important among its products. Out of the total area of the district Rohtas, forest occupies an area over 1.57 lakh hectares which is roughly 22 percent of the total geographical area of the district. The forest is mostly found in Bhagwanpur, Chainpur, Adhaura, Sasaram, Sheosagar, Rohtas, Nauhatta and Chenari blocks. In Bhojpur with the increase in irrigation facilities the area under cultivation has grown, consequently dminishing the forests. The conservation of forests was taken up in the state towards the end of the nineteenth century. Vana mahotsava and new afforestation schemes are expected to improve the forest cover of the region. Barren and unculturable land This category includes all such lands which are practically useless or unproductive and unfit for cultivation, either because of difficult relief or rocky ground bare of soils. Such land may also occur near.villages or amidst cultivation where reclamation cost is prohibitive. Such land is expected to contract with the construction of buildings wherever possible. The trend from 1981-82 to 1989-90 is more or less static one. It accounts for 3.95 per cent of the total reporting area of Ganga-Son divide. In Rohtas district barren land is covered under forest. Thus pure sandy soil areas, where not a blade of grass grows, are totally unfit for cultivation. All such lands i.e. lands under beds of streams. 60 river and other natural water bodies have also been considered as 'barren' as no effort can bring them under plough. Land put to non-agricultural uses The land classed under this category are non-arable. Land put to non-agricultural uses has increased from 10.28 percent to 10.82 percent of the reporting area during this period. It covers a wide range of uses including all lands under buildings factories, rivers, paths and roads, railways or underwater e.g. river, canals reservoirs and tanks and numerous other uses. This type of land is bound to increase in extent in view of the growing industrialization and the growth of population in villages and towns alike and the gradual expansion of the cultural landscape. For example an indiscriminate encroachment on cultivated land in suburban areas as the town grows with the increase in population. This highlights the need for a land utilization survey which may become the basis of future landuse planning whereby growing demand on land for non-agricultural purpose may be met without reduction in the farmland. The Ganga-Son Divide has a fairly large area under non- agricultural uses 10.6 per cent on an average of its total reporting area. Although the region is backward from the point of view of industrialisation and urbanisation, the relatively high percentage of such land is due to the high density of rural population. In Rohtas, network of Son canal system is a major factor for high percentage of land under non-agricultural uses. Besides, the district has few important industries, Dalmianagar group of industries are one of them located at Dehri-on- 61 Son though now it has been closed. After bifurcation of the old Shahabad district in the new districts of Bhojpur and Rohtas the large scale industries generally fall in Rohtas district, however different types of small scale and cottage industries are also located in the district of Bhojpur which contributes to the percentage of land put to non- agricultural uses. The Grand Trunk road traverses within the district which serves as the main road link between Calcutta and Delhi. The Grand chord line of Eastern railway runs for 80 kms while the Dehri- Rohtas light railway runs for 66 Kms in the district. Besides there is a network of a large number of provincial metalled and unmetalled roads. Culturable wasteland As the designation indicates lands under this category are definitely cultivable, but are at present lying as waste on account of a number of limitations. The limitations vary from one area to the other. They can be enumerated under the following heads, viz. encroachment by jungly weeds of kans and pater, floods and erosion, bad drainage, scarcity of water, distance from settlement sites and danger from wild animals etc. Culturable wastelands are such lands that possibilities of extending cultivation to feed our rapidly growing population exist. Though very low percentages of culturable waste are found in Ganga-Son Divide. The table 3.1 shows declining trend from 11 thousand hectares (0.97 per cent) in 1981-82 to 4 thousand hectares (0.35 per cent) in 1989-90. The decrease in culturable wasteland have resulted into a considerable increase in the 'net sown area'. 62 Permanent pastures and grazing land Taking the Ganga-Son Divide as a whole the area under pastures is not very large as it occupies less than one percent of the total area. This low percentage is mainly due to the reclaimation of such areas for cultivation. Most of the pasturelands is concentrated in Rohtas district because the pressure of population in the Bhojpur district being greater, more and more pasture has been brought under plough to feed the growing population. It is difficult to say if the extent of grasslands in Bihar will increase. The reclaimation schemes in the lands of marginal fertility, waterlogged areas, grassy wastes etc. are factors against the increase of pastures. Land under miscellaneous trees and groves Orchards and plantation included under this class occupy less than one percent of the reporting area of the region. There has been decline in the area under miscellaneous tree crops and groves - 3 thousand hectares in 1985-86 and two thousand hectare in 1989-90. The decrease in area under this group have resulted an increase of area under net sown area. Current Fallow The definition of the term 'current fallow' vary greatly in different parts of the country. 'Current fallow' is also a part of cultivated land. But it differs from 'net sown area' in the sense that at that time of reporting, the area covered by this class had no crops in them, although it was cultivated only during the last agricultural year. The area under 63 current fallow has declined from 68 thousand hectares in 1981-82 to 57 thousand hectares in 1987-88 and 51 thousand hectares in 1989-90. The proportion varies from 5.09 percent in Bhojpur to 4.01 percent in Rohtas of the total reporting area of respective districts. Cropping and fallowing is generally practised alternately so that in the typical sandy soil areas, a fraction of the arable land is actually given to crops while the rest is designated as either 'current fallow' or 'other fallow'. This practice has prevented soil exhaution and ensured better yields in the year of cropping. The northern part of Bhojpur district suffers mostly from devastating floods every year so that considerable percentage of the total area remains unsown. This accounts for high percentage of 'current fallow' in this region. In contrast to this area, Rohtas being immune from floods and having an fertile soil has lowest percentage under 'current fallow'. The percentage of 'current fallow' also varies according to the amount of rainfall. In a year of good monsoon, the percentage of 'current fallow' decreases considerably whereas in year of insufficient rain, the proportion of such land rises suddenly. With the availability of irrigation water over most of the region, percentage of area under 'current fallow' is bound to fall to a negligible land in future. Other fallow land The land under this category is actually arable, but owing to the inherent poverty of the soil and other limiting factors, it cannot be cultivated continuously. Some sort of rotation, not actually of crops but of cropping and fallowing have to be practised for the better conservation of soil. In this practice a cropping year is followed by 64 fallowing for the subsequent two or three years, but not exceeding five years. Thus, such land become temporarily out of cultivation. Table 3.1 shows that there has been considerable fluctuations in the area under fallow land. In recent years it was 11 thousand hectares in 1981-82, 13 thousand hectares in 1985-86, 10 thousand hectares in 1987-88 and 12 thousand hectares in 1989-90. Fallow land have been the constant loses in the search for new lands under cultivation. The area under fallow land had been minimum (0.88 percent) during the year 1987-88, thereby increasing the net area sown leading to higher agricultural production of the state. Lowest percentage of such land is found in Rohtas and Bhojpur due to fertile soils and high density of population where every piece of land has been put to its optimum use. Net area sown This represents the geographical extent of cultivated or sown land during a particular year. However, all the land classed as net area sown plus all the fallows may be regarded as the extent of the sown or arable land in Ganga-Son Divide. The 'net sown area' accounts for about 60.51 per cent of the region's total reporting area. This figure is fairly high when compared with the average figure for the state of Bihar which is only 43.90 per cent. It has increased considerably in recent years - 703 thousand hectares in 1981-82, 715 thousand hectares in 1987-88 and 723 thousand hectares in 1989-90. For the obvious reasons of growing pressure of population, soaring prices of agricultural commodities and increasing participation of govt, in catering various kinds of services to the cultivators, each district of Ganga-Son Divide 65 has registered a continuous increase in the net sown area during the study period. Most of the increase has taken place due to reclaimation of barren and uncultivable lands like some of the large jhils like one at Dumraon town in Bhojpur district which was a duck-shooting area, have been dewatered and put to crops. The block development authorities are also trying to extend cultivation and improve the output. The remodelled Son canal system has the objective of bringing in more land under cultivation. Permanent pastures, fallow land and groves and orchards have been brought under cultivation in many other parts. Almost the entire cultivable area has been brought under farming and any more expansion of the net sown area is difficult. We cannot also reduce the area under non-productive land use e.g. buildings etc. rather we expect to lose some of the 'sown' to the built. Thus, only marginal increase in net sown area is possible. The population is however expected to grow to unlimited dimensions. The remedy to the pressure of population will therefore, be found in multiple cropping whose possibilities are growing with the development of irrigation, fertilizers and improved techniques of agriculture. It is net area sown plus the average cultivated more than once that forms the gross area sown. In both the districts of Ganga-Son Divide the proportion of the area sown more than once is quite less than that of net sown area. To conclude, the landuse pattern in Ganga-Son Divide, which remained more or less stable during 1981-82 to 1989-90, has altered only insignificantly in the years that have followed (Fig. 3.1). In fact, the pattern of landuse does not appear to allow much room for change. 66 GANGA-SON DIVIDE : LAND USE PATTERN 1981-82 1985-86 1987-88 1989-90 Q Forest ^ Land put to Non-agricultural uses Q Barren and Uncultivable land • Parmanent pastures and oihe ' grazing land Q Miscellaneous tree crops and groves • Culturable waste land n Other fallow land n Current fallow land B Net area sown Fig. 3.1 67 CROP PRODUCTION The table 3.1 showed that the biggest share in the total surface area of Ganga-Son Divide (more than 60 per cent) is held by arable land, regularly put to cropping. Thus, before analysing the growth levels in respect of area, production and yield of principal crops, it would be worthwhile to preface this study with some basic ideas about crops, sowing and harvesting seasons. Physical and climatic conditions of the Ganga-Son divide permit the cultivation of almost all the crops grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Relatively high temperature throughout the year combined with the availability of plenty of moisture both naturally and artificially have made it possible to grow crops throughout the year. The different crops have been grouped into four classes i.e. : (i) Bhadai (ii) Aghani (iii) Rahi, and (iv) (larma, based on the timing of harvest. The bhadai crops harvested in aug-sept. (autumn) chiefly consist of quick maturing strain of maize, paddy, millets and jute. The aghani crops harvested in nov.-dec. (winter) consist mainly of winter paddy. Both bhadai and aghani crops are also called as kharif crops. The rabi crops consisting of wheat, barley and pulses are harvested in march and as such they may be called spring crops. The fourth type known as garma crops harvested in may-June are summer crops. This group of crops which consist of early varieties of paddy and millets, vegetables and perennial tree crops occupying a negligible area assumes less significance in Ganga-Son Divide. A relative importance of these crops in the different areas of the Ganga-Son Divide can be seen from the table 3.2. 68 The table 3.2 shows that among all the four harvests, rabi crops occupy the largest area i.e. 50.14 percent of the gross sown area of Ganga-Son divide, although in Bhojpur district it has largest area that is 51.80 percent but in Rohtas it is 2nd largest. The area occupied by aghani crops is slightly less than rabi crops. Bhadai crops do not cover large areas because of the scarcity of rain or soil moisture in the early part of the season. Garma crops are summer crops which cover a very restricted area in Bihar. The areas occupied by hhadai and garma are very low i.e. less than 2 per cent as compared with aghani and rabi cropped area. The two harvests that is aghani and rabi althogether account for more than 90 per cent of the gross sown area. As a matter of fact the two harvests are equally important in Ganga-Son Divide each occupying almost about a half of the total cropped land. The relative position of two harvests varies from year to year according to the meteorological conditions of the season. If the monsoon is normal the area under aghani and rabi crops is likely to be equal but on the other hand if the monsoon is late and erratic which is a common phenomena, the area under rabi crops may surpass by a fair margin of the aghani and bhadai crops. The single factor of 'hathia' rains during months of sept-october largely determines the extent of rabi cultivation and the success of the aghani crop. Thus, the relative importance of bhadai, aghani and rabi crops in Ganga-Son Divide reflects rainfall distribution during the year. But, it is only rabi crop which is least dependent on the availability of rain on account of relatively sufficient sub-soil moisture available in the soil due to relatively high water table throughout the year. 69 Table-3.2 Ganga-Son Divide : Crop-land Use (1981-82 to 1988-89) (thousand hectares) Year Districts Bhadai Aghani Rabi Garma 1981-82 Bhojpur 13 213 221 1 (2.00) (47.54) (49.33) (0.23) Rohtas 10 303 287 2 (1.66) (50.33) (47.67) (0.34) 1985-86 Bhojpur 11 197 228 2 (2.51) (44.98) (52.05) (0.46) Rohtas 8 301 272 2 (1.37) (51.63) (46.66) (0.34) 1987-88 Bhojpur 8 199 263 1 (1.70) (42.25) (55.84) (0.21) Rohtas 7 292 318 2 (1.13) (47.17) (51.37) (0.33) 1988-89 Bhojpur 8 202 218 8 (1.83) (46.33) (50.00) (1.84) Rohtas 7 294 284 4 (1.19) (49.91) (48.21) (0.69) Source : Directorate of statistics and Evaluation Bihar, Patna Note Figures in parentheses indicate percentage of the gross cropped area. 70 The picture of the relative importance of the different harvests obtained in the preceding paragraphs from the generalized study of the Ganga-Son divide as a whole differs considerably from that emerging from district level details. The dominant position of rabi crops is limited only to the district of Bhojpur as shown in table 3.2. Aghani crops, assumes the highest importance in Rohtas and in this district, it leads in other harvests. The third position of hhadai crops in both districts of Rohtas and Bhojpur is solely due to small acreage of jute in Ganga-Son divide. Although physical condition are quite favourable for the jute, lack of adequate marketing facilities for a commercial product has discouraged its larges scale cultivation. Almost 2 per cent area under bhadai harvest is due to paddy and maize. Principal Crops : The relative position of the different crops with respect to area, production and yield in the Ganga-Son Divide is shown in table 3.3 and table 3.4 at district level. The principal crops are rice, maize, bajra, barley, wheat, arhar, gram, peas, masur oilseeds, sugarcane and potatoes. Rice Rice is the leading crop in both the districts of Ganga-Son Divide. Rice is by far the most important crop cultivated in the region occupying about 53.07 per cent of the area under cereals. It is the staple food of the people living in the region. Being a tropical plant it thrives C5 w es 71 r-~ o^ cjv r~ "^ — •* O B M> o ~; oc ""' vc 2 o 5g -o ,^ f,^ OS r~ I-- _ o ** '^ '^ (N •*" O O^ ~ H o^ r- f^ o OS f-n _f 3c o §; - ^ i^ ON e g w <7s (N t^ r^ r-~ vO OS SO « <~^ -t! <^ _- SC •^ o "" O OS •* ' ^s c •/-i ~ oc . 00 U (N <-5 -t n r:i 0M rs ^ !-> '^ o 00 (N — \C rs ^-' so o -—- sc '^ (N ^ O P^ ^SSgos 00 f^ ^ =^ ;Ci iy! rv4 t- 'n o r- . r<^ f^. so \C O o f^ -i- tN —' oc ^-' «N (N ^" — N '5f ^ — in •"'I '.CI "^ Hi oc — (N in "^ Os o so — VC ^. OS SO SO . O . r«^ OS r«i r-; r-- en O o ("^ O — fN o O >" ^ g N^ O" — » ^ ^ •— 1*^ ^ in f^ ^ "^^ ^ '^ S~ "- C" •^ c> _ -r so •o OS ^ rg — •n o so p so ""' oc rsi sj> jjc ; 1^ 1^ rsgi "C^N T-:f-t ' so^ Tf p^' m 1-^' oc il^ 'n "*" sO c'l — so 1^ OS (N o- in r; 'n P oc C O 1^ t^ -c rN r«^ (N w- so w rs) •n ^0 — m Of. O — ^ 'C ^ S 2 li a. >• < >• < >• < (N O oc oc OS < ^ 'n I OS oc sC OC 00 o o OS OS Os < on Z OS «« e8 72 J" e9i 6£ r^ i? fS ^ s ee « NC 00 O °^ •*vo ? 00 o e ^ S ON;::] .o _ o _ 00 o -* sD — O o 2 t~- ,^ r^ O r«-, r— -^ f<^ o •*-• H o r~ s^ m w "^ ' o .5 o o "^ «r! 'i? r- oo ^ fN — o 2 ce r~ "^. OS f^: oc o "". r- ''^ -H 00 '^. oO f^ r- •** "^ .-» d r-« rf •Tf _™ •^ VO O O ^' o r», OO _ 00 __ OS ^ in OS ON B jj^ Vi r^ in r^ m s R NO o '^ o ^ ^2: ?^sD 'n "^ OS "^ 00 r*^ o •* o" C> _o Pu 'n O '^ —" (zi '^ (^ '^ — w so (N w — w SO ro rn r^ f^ ^^ •=• o "^ ^ m 1^ O g O 00 DJ O 2 -H I •n <^ 00 00 o — >~ O ^'^ NO 00 •n n N O '<} OS 0° 00 ON gON r-r-- O (N 0* ^ ^ J^ -^ 'n C in ^ r~ "^ ON Tf "^ t- "^ — 'N '-'. ON c^ "^ c^ 3 t- •n 00 OS • • <=> 2? NO =? •O O ^§^ o -^ Q: 2: in ri so OS "^ OS "^ OS ON f^ — ro O oc o OS o in «N O ~ OS "* 00 r~ -j^' OS -f 00„ 2 t; S «^ ""^ OS _ m oc ••- in r^ "^ ;f — TT ^ o v^ rM Tj- "^ tn ON ^ OS ,n rn -J. NO (N m a. H — ^^ m Q u. >• < >" < >• < NO O u oo OO OS I sC OS «e OO 285 thousand metric tonnes in 1981 to 329 thousand metric tonnes in 1989-90 of Bhojpur while in Rohtas production has also increased from 374617 metric tonne to 573567 metric tonne in 1989-90. The increase has resulted due to both expansion in area and increase in yields. Normally about 90 per cent of the rice grown in Ganga-Son Divide is winter paddy or transplanted rice, the remainder being autumn or broadcast rice. The summer rice occupies a negligible proportion. Wheat Wheat ranks next only to rice in area and production. It is by far the most important cereal crop grown during the winter season. It requires cool climate and moderate rainfall. It is mostly raised during the rabi season when temperatures are 10-15°C and the rainfall 5-15 cm. Frost at flowering time and hailstorms at ripening stage damage the crop. Light drizzles and cloudiness when grain is ripening seem to increase productivity. The average hectare yield of wheat vary from 1693 to 1220 kg in Bhojpur while in Rohtas it vary from 1834 to 1321 kg respectively. 74 below the average yield of the country. The area has increased greatly in recent years, it stood at 192823 thousand hectares in 1989-90 as against only 175464 thousand hectares in 1981-82 in Rohtas while it is 122022 thousand hectare in 1981-82and 142975 thousand hectares in 1989-90 in Bhojpur. Increased irrigation facilities have made this possible. Its production has increased nearly two times from 2312735 thousand hectares in 1981-82 to 354061 thousand hectare in 1989-90 in Rohtas, while in Bhojpur also it shows increasing trend. The increasing trend of wheat is largely because of wheat production technology adopted at the farm level. Gram It is the most important among the pulses and next only to wheat among the rabi crops in the region. It is generally an unirrigated crop. It is one of the most important foodgrains. It requires a mild cool weather and a low to moderate rainfall of 38-51 cms. Excessive rains during the early stages of growth harm the crop greatly. Gram is cultivated as pure or mixed with wheat, barley or mustard. The average hectare-yield of the crop is 889 kg in Ganga-Son divide. The area under gram was 17905 thousand hectares in 1989-90 as against 20743 thousand hectare in 1981-82 in Bhojpur while it is 27670 thousand hectare in 1981-82 to 21778 thousand hectare in 1989-90 in Rohtas. The production was 21056 thousand hectare in 1989-90 to 16428 thousand hectare in Bhojpur. Whereas the area of gram registered a declining trend but the production has maintained its increasing trend. The negative area growth rate in respect of gram has gone in favour of wheat and potato during winter. 75 Lentil Lentil is a rabi crop generally grown pure or mixed with barley or mustard. They are mostly cultivated under rain-fed condition but in some areas irrigation is provided. Being leguminous, these plants help in restoring the fertility of the soil and are therefore grown in rotation with other crops. In 1981-82 the land under mas\4r is 2.3 per cent in both the district of Ganga-Son Divide. Among pulses lentil stands next to gram in acreage. Both the area and production has shown increasing trend in masur. Oilseeds Rapeseed and mustard seeds are the most important oilseeds grown in Ganga-Son Divide. The total acreage under oilseeds in the different districts of the region becomes considerable. They are rabi crops essentially confined only to non-irrigated areas. The area under oilseeds increased from 2.19 per cent to 2.92 per cent in 1986-87 in Rohtas while it is almost constant in Bhojpur i.e. 1.96 per cent in 1981-82 to 1.95 per cent in 1986-87. Their production has also increased. Recently, improved varieties of mustard and rapeseed has led to increased production in 1987. Other Foodgrains including Pulses Maize occupies less than one per cent in Rohtas while it varies between 1-2 per cent in Bhojpur. It is mostly grown as rainfed khanf crop. It requires rather careful cultivation e.g. weeding and hoeing 76 before the crop is ready. Maize is a readily consumable crop as unripe cobs, flour and porridge. Adjacent to the urban centres it is grown primarily for use as green cobs. The stalks of maize are used as a valuable fodder. Bajra is of negligible importance in Ganga-Son divide. Barley is another crop which occupies very low acreage. Barley is one of the chief food crops of the rabi harvest. It is the best alternative to wheat on the fields which have produced some autumn crop e.g. early rice or maize. Barley is often grown mixed with other crops e.g. wheat, gram and peas etc. The best yields, however, are obtained from the fields left fallow during the preceding rains. The latest trend is a growing wheat acreage at the cost of barley cultivation because wheat is better food crop and growing irrigation facilities have made this change possible. Among pulses arhar and peas are important. Peas is rabi crop while arhar is kharif, generally grown as mixtures. In Rohtas both arhar and peas are showing increasing trend in both area and production. The area occupied by arhar is 2548 thousand hectare in 1981-82 while it is 3712 thousand hectare in 1989-90 and its production increased from 1498 metric tonne (1981-82) to 6218 metric tonne in 1989-90. The production of peas increased from 1407 metric tonnes to 1883 metric tonnes and its area acounts for 0.44 per cent of the gross cropped area. In Bhojpur trend of both arhar and peas is reversed in case of area and production. It has recorded a declining trend. Sugarcane It is a long duration crop maturing in 10-18 month depending on the climate and variety and it requires a hot and humid weather 77 thoughout this period. A significant feature of cane cultivation in Bihar is that both the periods of sowing and harvesting of this crop fall in winter. The area under sugarcane records a decreasing trend from 0.49 percent in 1981-82 to 0.43 per cent in 1989-90 in Rohtas while production also recorded a decreasing trend in the same year. In Bhojpur the production has shown the increasing trend - 44 million tonnes in 1981-82 to 58.8 million tonnes in 1986-87, while area under this crop is fluctuating during these years. Potato Potato is a temperate crop and a temperature of 20°C is idea] for the development of the tubers. Sometimes it is harvested when tubers are immature to get higher price in the market or to allow the next crop of potato to be grown in the same field. Early harvesting reduces the keeping quality of tubers. Unless market is high and transportation facilities are good the growers should not harvest immature potatoes. In Rohtas both the area and production have showed our increasing trend that is 4.5 million hectares in 1981-82 while it is 5316 thousand hectares in 1986-87. Production also has recorded an increasing trend with little ups and down. Jt is 6.59 per cent in J 98 J-82, 9.76 per cent (1985-86) and 6.26 per cent in 1986-87. In Bhojpur, the area under potato is 1.32 per cent in 1981-82, 1.15 per cent in 1985-86 and 1.24 per cent in 1986-87. The area and production of the crops in Bhojpur have recorded a fluctuating trend. , ^ - -^ r '•'-, The observation reveals that cereals have come to dominate the •»' /- ^ \ cropping pattern i^^the Ganga-So.u.DiVide at the cost of rahi pulses. The 78 potato to some extent have come to survive by replacing sugarcane which has relatively low productivity and sugar recovery. Pulses and oilseeds are legumes and important natural source of restoring the soil fertility. Their fluctuating trend in area may have serious consequences on soil and water management in the long run. Chapter-4 POSTHARVEST OPERATIONS AND LOSSES Appropriate post-havest processes and technology have great potential to augment present supply of food, fibre and fuel. Post-harvest technology plays a significant role in minimising the losses during harvesting, threshing, handling and processing of crops and their products which is estimated to range between 10-30 percent. It is need of the time that the post-harvest activities should aim to produce nutritive and high value products from low grade materials. Besides, post-harvest activities assures greater financial returns to farmers and generates employment opportunities for rural masses. The major post-harvest unit operations of crops are harvesting at optimum stage, curing or field drying, threshing, winnowing, transport, storage, milling, handling, quality control, marketing, by-product and residue utilization etc. These unit operations vary from crop to crop, product to product, purpose and location (Fig. 4.1). These unit operations and the status of the present practices is presented below : POST-HARVEST PRACTICES Harvesting The harvesting operations include cutting, gathering, bundling and stocking of the crop which are mainly carried out manually. The two very important points in harvesting are timing of harvesting and method of harvesting. The crop grower may commit a blunder by harvesting the crop before its full maturity. The grain should not possess more than 15 percent moisture at the time of harvest. To achieve high quality and 80 o 1—( so )-4 Ui oPQ < ai < C/o3 a. (^ o fS oC ^^ 1—1 o > ^^ o o V*> m X •4-J cn O cu ts /•^*N »-H 00 0^ 1-^ ''-^ ed ^e ^"s > ^' CQ (U ;-oi 3 O 1/5 81 premium prices in the market it is utmost important that harvesting is done at optimum stage. Premature harvesting not only reduces the storability of the grains but it also reduces the grain yield. Right stage of harvesting prevents the crop from high and low temperature effect and lessens the damage caused by insect pests and diseases. Method The sickle, spade and Khurpi are major tools for harvesting and digging and are easily available at low cost in villages. Their output is low and effort required in cutting operation is high. Self-sharpening serrated sickle has been developed with better material and design. It also requires less frequent sharpening. For fruits, harvesting is done by trunk shaking, plucking using wooden cross or by a small sickle attached to the end of a long stick. For vegetables, hand picking is best because both quality and yield are maintained. However, on commercial scale when labour becomes a limiting factor; crops are mechanically harvested. Combine harvesting of wheat, paddy and soyabean are done by the farmers in the region having labour shortage and it makes land available atleast 7-10 days early for next crop resulting in better land utilization. Straw disposal has been the major problem where combine harvesting is in vogue. An exclusive straw collector and binder or straw combine harvester has been developed to facilitate straw disposal. Reaper operated by engine, power tiller and tractor have been introduced for harvesting wheat, paddy, soyabean, ragi and mustard. Sugarcane in India is still harvested manually using cutting knives of varying shapes and sizes. Shukla et al. (1991) reported that labour requirement for 82 manual cutting and cleaning of sugarcane required 157 and 395 man h/ha respectively. Oilseeds require about 15-20 man-days/ha for harvesting of the crop. Threshing Threshing is the process of removing grains from its straw and chaff, freeing it from impurities and fitting it for the market. In threshing all the three sources of power that is manual, animal and mechanical are used by the cultivators. Traditional method of threshing practiced today are trampling by bullocks, rubbing with bare human feet and hand, beating the bundles of paddy from side of panicles against a block of wood or log, pounding maize with a stick to detach grains from the cob and the power driven stationary threshers. The thresher perform the following three operations - (1) detaching grains from the earhead, (2) making bhi4sa of the straw of an acceptable quality for animal feeding and (3) separating grains from the straw. Nowadays even small farmers who are not in position to own a thresher get their produce threshed mechanically by hiring thresher from the big farmers. Mechanical threshing has greatly reduced not only the time required and dependence on weather for threshing but also the drudgery. It also helps the cultivator in early marketing of crops, saves threshing costs and make the land available for next tillage operation earlier and eliminates hired help. Method Traditionally, threshing of wheat and barley has been achieved by bullock trampling which is arduous and time consuming. This has 83 been gradually replaced by power threshers operated by 5-15 hp engine or electric motor. The threshing of paddy is done by manual beating of the harvested crop over the solid surface or platform. Treading with cattle and tractor is also practised. The outturn of manual threshing is about 65 kg/man-hour with threshing efficiency of 75 percent. In case of millets the threshing is done by beating the harvested earheads with hard wooden poles after sun drying. The pulses are threshed in the same manner as that of millets. The 'pedal thresher' has been found very simple and effective for threshing of rice. The maize cobs are removed by hand when the produce is small, but when produce is large the grains should be removed by maize sheller. Maize sheller is a simple device which can remove 16-24 kg of grains from the cob in an hour. Similarly groundnut decorticator is effective for shelling groundnut pods. About 60 kg of groundnuts can be shelled in an hour as compared to 5-6 kg by hand. Traditional threshing of oilseeds by beating it with sticks or bullock treading is still prevalent in many parts of the country. However, the use of threshers nowadays picking up. About 70-80 percent of wheat, barley, grain, soyabean, sorghum and pearl millet crops are threshed by mechanical power thresher. Multicrop threshers are suitable for threshing major cereals, oilseeds and pulses. To avoid accidents during operation of thresher, safety devices have been developed which helped m the enactment of the dangerous machinery regulation act. Some of the thresher include soyabean thresher, multicrop thresher, axial flow thresher, sunflower stripper hand maize sheller, groundnut decorticator and sugarcane stripper. 84 Winnowing Natural winnowing practiced at farmer's level after threshing. Moreover, the process is weather dependent. Winnowing is done by separating the dust and non-edible lighter parts using tilted baskets and dropping the grains from height against natural wind. Grains being heavier fall near the feet of the person, while lighter chaff falls at some distance. This is time consuming process with low-efficiency as compared to mechanical winnowing. Hand or paddle operated winnowing fans are also used. These equipment have 4-5 blades of 90-125 mm diameter rotating at a speed of 300-350 rpm. The foreign and unwanted materials viz. sand, stalk, stones, weed, foliage etc. present in the grains which may originate from the field and threshing yard, can pose problem in storage, fetch lower price and disrupt mechanical equipment in processing. Therefore, the quality of grains are improved through winnowing. Drying Sundrying is normally adopted for drying of crops and this is found to be most economical way of drying under farmer's condition. Sun drying is slow, labour intensive and weather dependent. The drying or curing of crops poses problems when the harvesting of the crop coincides with untimely rains due to lack of sunlight and high relative humidity. The moisture content of various foodgrains and other products is usually high and uncongenial for their safe storage at the time of harvest. However harvesting of these products at high moisture content is useful to minimize the shattering losses and to produce good quality 85 grains or seeds. Consequently all foodgrains or seeds have to be dried prior to their storage and further processing to produce value added products. Method The drying is done in two stages. The first drying is accomplished by delaying the harvesting of the crop. Secondly, the harvested crop is windrowed or bundled and left in the field or transported to threshing site and stacked for further drying. When crops moisture reaches the safe moisture level threshing is done and after winnowing and cleaning, the seeds are finally dried in sun or dried in mechanical dryers for milling or storage. In combine harvesting the 2nd stage drying is not done. Normally crops are sun dried for 2-4 days in the field after havesting. The medium used for sundrying are mud plastered, cemented or bricked floor, ordinary cloth, gunny bags, polythene sheets etc. The grains, vegetables and fruits are spread on these materials and then stirring them periodically for uniform warm up and removal of moisture. Sundrying of paddy consist of spreading paddy in 2-3 cm layer, frequent raking, tempering by heaping and covering at about 18 percent moisture level and finally drying to 14 percent moisture. Batch and continuous dryers have also been developed for use when sun is not available. In absence of paved drying yards, sun drying on pavements and roads are common sights in many places. Improper drying results in high free fatty acid effecting qva]ity of oil Stacked bundles of oilseeds are dried in sun or hung upside down over mats. 86 Mechanical drying system may produce a higher quality product but are more likely to be associated with high costs. Hence a renewable energy oriented dryer is being developed which makes use of solar energy or combustion of agricultural waste for heating the air. The dryer is batch type and has a holding capacity of two cubic meters. Storage Nearly two-third of the total produce is retained at farm level for food, feed and seed. Majority of farmers use the traditional type of storage which is open to damage and loss from various sources. The main problems with the existing facilities is short life of the material used, not safe from weather effect, rodent and inadequate capacity. Majority of cultivators in all the holding size classes, do not adopt improved storage facilities due to lack of funds, non-availability of desired type of container and in some cases unawareness about improved storage facilities. Any improvement in these storage facilities leading to savings of even a small proportion of the total foodgrains production will have a significant impact on the overall foodgrains availability in the country. For minimising the losses, the ministry of food has been implementing rural based scheme of'Save Grain Compaign'. At present 17 save grains teams situated in different parts of the country are operating in selected areas in close collaboration of state govt. The major planks of the compaign are training, demonstration and publicity. The farmers have been made aware of the importance of good quality storage structures and precaution to be taken during storage through extension programmes of the state govt. As a result, many farmers have 87 adopted 'metal bin' for storing grains and oilseeds. However, still some of the farmers are following the method of open heaping and gunny bags for storage of their produce. Method In Indian villages, various methods have been practised for storage of produce. The mode of storage in the dwelling houses is usually tin drums, big earthenware, piicca^kutcha kothas, thekas, underground mud walled or concretised cellars and R.C.C. bins. Most common indoor and outdoor structures are made of mud, wood, straw, jute bags, bricks and split bamboo. The traditional storage structures vary a great deal from region to region. These structures are not rodent, moisture and insect proof and require frequent maintenance. Cereals are traditionally stored in mud kothi, jute bags in rooms or buried under wheat straw in underground structures. Oilseeds are store well below 8 percent moisture content in mud kothis, gunny bags and earthen pitchers. Sometimes oilseeds are just heaped in one corner of the house. Pulses are stored in mud bins, paddy straw, mud plastered bins, baked mud plastered pitches etc. Metallic containers are better as compared to local mud bins and gunny bags for storage. Pusa Institute has improved its Pusa bin, which needs popularisation among farmers. Indian grain storage institute of technology (IGSI) has developed modern farm storage structure of 14.5 metric tonne capacity to meet farmers requirement. The safe storage period reported by the Indian farmers varied from 2 months to one year. There is a need to augment the production machinery to ensure that appropriate and 88 improved storage facilities like metallic bins, pusa bins etc are available to meet the needs of farmers in different holding size classes. Processing Most food grains undergo processing before they are fit for cooking and consumption. The processive involves de-husking of paddy, controlled de-branning of rice, grinding of wheat into vairous fractions, or husking and splitting of grains legumes and dry milling of maize and millets. Most of the processing operations were performed by the farmers himself in their traditional way with certain disadvantages.This traditional set up changed significantly due to advancement of science and technology and rapid industrialization. i) Paddy milling In rice milling, hand pounding coexists with mechanical milling devices. The mechanical milling of rice is carried out in powered hullers, which yield milled rice and a husk-bran mixture. Use of shellers increases milling yields and furnishes bran and husk as separate fractions. Although shellers give better milling yields than hullers, grains breakage can be as high as 30 percent or even more, depending upon paddy variety and drying practices. Advanced removal of bran in milling reduces the yield of head rice. The reduction in head rice yields during milling is reduced by parboiling and drying of paddy under controlled conditions. The extent and mode of drying influence breakage of grains during milling since high-temperature drying and low grain moisture enhance development of cracks. Improved methods of parboiling overcome the offensive smell noticed in traditionally 89 parboiled rice. Since parboiling hardens and toughens the grain surface through starch, milling losses are comparatively lower than in fresh paddy. iii) Flour mills Wheat is milled in traditional atla-chakkies and roller flour mills to produce products like whole meal flour, semolina and white flour. The speciality of roller flour milling is to first separate the endosperm from bran and germ in a large chunks as possible and then reduce the endosperm to flour sized particles, through a series of milling and grading steps. With constant scientific and technological innovations, now the traditional grinding stones have been totally eliminated by the modern power driven burr mills. They are available in various sizes and models. The quality of flour so obtained is definitely superior over the flour processed by traditional method. iv) Dal milling In India, pulses are mostly consumed after dehusking and splitting. Dal milling is next largest food processing industry after rice and flour milling. Pulse milling for domestic consumption is done by domestic ladies by hand operated stone grinder. In traditional methods, treatments for loosening of husk were insufficient which causes high milling losses in the form of brokens and powder. As a result traditional mills yield only 65 to 70 per cent split pulses whereas the potential ranges between 82 to 85 per cent. Due to 'conditioning technique' in modern dal 90 milling, the conversion ratio of whole grain to dal obtained is almost 5-10 units more than that obtained by using traditional methods. The resultant product is also better in cooking quality. v) Oil milling Traditionally, oil is extracted from oilseed by a typical equipment, "Petula" in tribal areas and by animal or power operated ghanies. For extraction of oil through "Petula" the oilseeds are first pounded and steamed. It takes 1.5 hour for preparation and 30 minutes for extraction. A village ghani, operated by two animals takes about 3 hours to crush one charge of 16 kg of mustard seed, yielding 28-30 per cent oil and leaves 11-16 per cent oil in cake. Power driven ghani reduces the crushing time taken per charge by 15-30 per cent and improves the oil yield by 1-2 per cent as compared with an animal operated ghani. Most of the commercial oil extraction by mechanical mean is done by expellers. Solvent extraction plant are capital intensive, however, the oil recovery is maximum in this system of oil milling and oil in cake is only upto 1 per cent. vi) Jaggery making Sugarcane is used for manufacturing of (hir, Khandsari and refined sugar. Jaggery is prepared at farm level as well as small scale industrial level. For Jaggery making, sugarcane is crushed in crusher operated by pair of bullocks. The juice is then boiled in Karah using bagase as fuel for 2-3 hours. The concentrated juice is allowed to cool down in cans and moulds for solidification. 91 On small scale the khandsari units are quite popular but low recovery and poor crystalization is a major constraint. Refined sugar is manufactured in large, fully mechanized plants. Sugar mills are cost intensive. Transport The traditional methods of transport of agricultural produce after collection in the field is carried out by self carrying method by head load or on the back. By animals, putting bags on their back manually and by animal carts drawn by bullock, camel, horse, buffalo etc. The conditions of rural transport are primitive and bullock carts still remain the most suitable and cheap means of transport in the countryside. This is because of two things : (a) the animal power which is used in the agricultural operations, remain idle for several months,. This power can be profitably used in transport, (b) the modern means of transport cannot ply on village roads. The mechanical road transport is used only upto a limited extent and that too, between the big villages lying along the metalled roads. The bullock cart forms an integral part of the Indian rural economy, and its interests cannot be eclipsed by the interests of the motor car. It carries about 70 per cent of the total volume of commodities moved by all the means of the transport in India. Its use increased along with an increase in demand for Indians raw materials in foreign countries. No doubt, the railway transports these raw materials from cities to the ports to be transhipped to distant countries, but their movement first started from the villages where they were grown. The other mode such as horse carriages, camel carts, bicycle thela etc. are use for rural transport. 92 Marketing Efficient marketing is a pre-iequisite in the development process of any economy. The basic objectives of an efficient marketing are to ensure remunerative prices to the producer and a reduction in marketing costs and margins, to provide commodities to consumer at reasonable prices, and promote the movement of surpluses for economic development. To protect the interests of the various segment of society, government intervention in the market mechanism becomes necessary. A majority of the cultivators tend to sell their produce immediately after the harvest at the low prices prevailing at that time. There is a differences in the prices prevailing at different levels of marketing that is the village, the primary wholesale market, the secondary wholesale and retail levels. The extent of village sales varies from area to area, commodity to commodity and also with the status of the farmers. Because of substantial supplies, Indian market are glutted in the post harvest season. Traders often take advantage of this situation. About 60 to 80 per cent of the foodgrains are marketed in the first quarter of the harvest season. The reason for the existence of post harvest immediate sale of the produce by farmers are : a) Poor retention power of the farmers arising out of their pressing need for cash to repay their debts and meet their cash needs for the payment of land revenue, the purchase of items of basic necessity, and for meeting their social obligations - all of which are conducted primairly in the off-season. 93 b) Inadequate storage facilities available in the villages, either private or public. c) Fear of loss of the produce by fire, theft and other calamities. d) Lack of entrepreneurship and the low risk-bearing ability of the farmers. e) In surplus producing states like Punjab and Haryana, most of the marketed surplus of wheat and paddy or rice is sold by the farmers to public agencies at the support prices. As the support prices during a marketing season remains constant it is advantageous to the farmers to sell in the post harvest season. f) Over the years, the return to storage has not only decreased but the probability of its being positive has also gone down, mainly due to rise in interest rates. Post Harvest Losses Although there is great increase in the production, the post harvest management practices and processing facilities could not develop to the required extent, resulting into huge amount of loss of post harvest losses which is about 10-16 per cent in foodgrains and 35-40 per cent in fruits and vegetables. There are varying amounts of qualitative and quantitative losses associated with different crops at every unit operation that is harvesting, field drying, threshing, cleaning drying, storage, transport, processing etc. 94 i) Harvesting Losses Most of the crops after physiological maturity go through a rapid drying and then gradually coming in equilibrium with atmospheric moisture by which they start shattering. Longer the matured crop stays in the field more quantitative losses occur due to animals, rodents, birds, besides natural shattering.Untimely rains can cause weather damage while varieties lacking dormancy start sprouting even before harvesting. Lack of judgement on the part of farmer of the right stage of harvesting, delayed harvesting, shortage of labour, low capacity inefficient harvesting equipment, lodging, height of cutting, excessive curing or in field drying, bundled transport contribute to harvesting losses. Depending upon crop and proneness to shatter, average harvesting loss could be 5-15 per cent. Excessive delay in crop harvesting easily exceeds 20 per cent shatter losses. Incidently inspite of large agricultural labour available there is labour shortage during harvesting. Therefore there is need for semi-mechanised and mechanised harvesters atleast for large farms and custom servicing to part time farmers. Mismanagement in harvesting and weather factors directly or indirectly cause qualitative damages attack by molds and fungi, discolouration, excessive free fatty acid (FFA) etc. ii) Threshing losses : Threshing losses are of two types - (i) grains or pods, going with straw due to inadequacies of threshing and separation, (ii) and mechanical damage to the grains creating brokens or internal injuries. Heaping of moist stalks in threshing floor results into discolouration 95 mold and fungi attack, overheating, loss of viability, high free faty acid (FFA) etc. Damaged kernel or pods reduce market value. Delayed threshing exposes produce for longer time on threshing floor, thus, making it vulnerable to damages from stray cattle, rodents, birds, weather hazards, on floor irrecoverable shatter and grains lost in cracks and crevices. Usually grains are most resilient in 11-13 per cent moisture level capable of sustaining mechanical action with least damage. Under optimum conditions threshing loss can be kept less than 1-1.5 per cent, however, normally 2-5 per cent threshing losses are not uncommon. iii) Winnowing Losses For proper marketing, processing and relatively trouble free storage, crops free from foreign matter, trash and damaged kernels are desirable. Natural winnowing separates trash and other light fractions, besides being weather dependent. Winnowing is associated with spillage, irrecoverable scattering of grains. Mechanical cleaning minimise some of these defects. Under good management it is possible to keep losses less than 1 per cent. Wheat recovered from husk indicates that percentage of broken grains in basket system is nil and there is about 2-3 per cent of shrivelled grains. iv) Drying losses Physiological maturity when kernel moisture are still 40-60 per cent and safe storage moisture requirement of less than 10 per cent involves lot of drying which the farmers achieve in several stages delaying harvest till it comes down to 20-22 percent curing or field 96 drying, drying on threshing floor and drying clean grain before storage. One may allow the crop to totally dry down to safe storage moisture levels and then harvest. But this is not a desirable practice as by that stage excessive shattering is unavoidable. In India, mostly sundrying is practiced, if it is possible to have proper drying floor-large, hard, smooth and dry, hot, dry, sunny weather, no untimely rains or dust storm, inexpensive labour to stirr drying beds it works well. But these favourable conditions often do not exist thus losses experiences due to inadequate slow drying, spillage, molds and fungal damage, overheating and discolouration, sprouting, animals, rodents and birds damage, insects and mites infestation causing excessive storage problems. Infrastructurally Indian farms at this stage are not equipped for adequate on-farm drying in the event of unfavourable weather conditions which are not unfrequent, thus continued drying and storage losses occur. On- farm, community and market level dryers, ground spreads and protective crop covers need to be promoted. Table - 4.1 Safe storage moisture content of some of the crops (moisture content in equilibrium with 70% relative humidity at about 27"C) SI. Crops Maximum Permissible No. moisture content (%) 1. Wheat 13.50 2. Maize 13.50 3. Sorghum 13.50 4. Millet 16.00 5. Paddy 15.00 6. Rice 13.00 7. Rape/mustard 9.00 Source : D.W. Hall (1970), FAO, Agricultural Developmem Paper No 90, Rome, pg. 53. 97 v) Storage losses For domestic storage of crops at rural level, vairous types of bins made up of local material, viz., straw, clay, stone, metal etc. are used. However, they are neither air tight nor rodent or insect proof. Millers use godowns or warehouses for this purpose. Stored grains suffer damage when its moisture content and temperature are sufficiently high to permit the growth of organisms. Thus, the important factors which causes storage losses are moisture, temperature, light, respiration, insects, mites, microorganisms, rodents, birds and storage structures. It has been estimated that country has been loosing 6.5 to 10 per cent of the total production of foodgrains each year due to unscientific storage practices adopted by farmers, traders and government agencies. The 'United Nation Development Project Action Committee' stated that in India over 10 million tonnes of grains are lost each year through spoilage by pests and moisture. If the storage losses could be reduced the country will not only be able to wipe out the deficits, but will increase the availability of foodgrains for export. This underlines the need and importance of an appropriate storage systems which can reduce the losses. vi) Processing losses Since processing involves mechanical operations, some physical losses are inevitable due to the inherent nature of foodgrains, obsolete or inappropriate equipment and defective use of the equipment. The magnitude of loss in case of hand pounding is about 2.40 per cent, 4.60 percent bran and 1.00-1.50 per cent germ. In hullers, the loss is 98 about 6-9 per cent of rice including the broken grains, 4.00 per cent bran and 1-1.50 per cent germ. Although sheller give better milling yields than hullers grains breakage can be as high as 30 per cent or even more depending upon paddy variety and drying practices. Modern rice mills use rubber rollers sheller for milling and separate polishers for polishing by which they are able to recover 68-72 per cent of head rice with minimum broken rice of 1-4 per cent. The power driven mills are common in towns and cities and more than 70 per cent of wheat is milled by them. The roller flour mills handle a little over 10 per cent of wheat production and the rest handled by other method. There is a loss of about 2.40 per cent in hand driven stone querns and burr mills over roller flour mills. Similarly, pulses have to be dehusked and split into two parts, each part-called locally dal before they are sold and consumed. It has been estimated that there is a net loss of 10-15 per cent during the conversion of raw grain into finished dal through traditional methods. If losses due to breakage and scourge are reduced the increased recovery oi dal and dal produce for human nutrition is possible. Transportation losses The loss of foodgrains in transportation depends upon the topography of the area, quality and distance. Bullock carts with wooden wheels, improved carts with pneumatic wheels tractor-trolleys, trucks and ships are involved in transportation process at several points. It is observed that when grains are transported to the long distance in the railway wagons, insect infestation takes place due to the presence of 99 insects in the railway wagons themselves which cause considerable loss. The loss also occurs during transportation of grains either in bulk or in bags due to rains, if the grains are not covered. The 'Indian Foodgrains Investigation Committee' estimated that in the movement of 7.50 million tonnes of foodgrains, the loss was about 2.30, 1.25, 1.00 per cent in rail, road and river transport respectively. It was estimated that the transport loss varies from 0.15 to 3.50 per cent. 'Indian Grain Storage Institute, Hapur* has estimated the loss of 0.25 and 1.56 per cent in paddy and 0.16 and 0.63 per cent in wheat during transportation. Marketing losses As grains move out of farms for marketing, they are subjected to spoilage by different biotic and abiotic factors. The marketing areas are usually congested and unpaved, resulting in inefficient handling, a huge losses of farm commodities, and unsanitary problems. In case of rains, the condition becomes very serious. During marketing large amount of foodgrains are produced by different agencies and grains are infested by microorganisms, molds and insects and damaged by rodents and birds due to lack of proper care. Sometimes in marketing yards, insects and pests get easy access to grains. The loss in marketing channel as a whole is appreciable and needs to be systematically assessed. To achieve efficiency in marketing and to avoid huge losses, scientific storage at village and market levels has to be built. The proper development of such markets probably is the least attention paid aspect in the economy and majority of them is still dominated by traditional marketing system. 100 Post harvest practices and Innovations Most of the post harvest activities done by farmers in India are repetitive in nature, monotonous, tedious as well as time, energy and labour consuming. Most of activities are done manually involving considerable amount of drudgery. The conventional types of tools and implements used by farmers are slow in operation with low output and poor efficiencies. Improvement in such methods, tools, implements etc. are required to increase their productivity and to make them more cost effective and energy efficient so that their adoption by farmers may be helpful in reducing the drudgery and energy expenditure besides giving additional income and employment to fanners. Some of traditional time and energy consuming methods, tools or implements which need improvement are described below : i) Traditional methods of threshing viz : trampling under feet or by bullock treading or by beating or rubbing the harvested crop against floor or any hard surface give poor output and result in high breakage of food grains or seed. ii) Conventional method of winnowing wherein threshed product is filled in baskets, lifted above worker's height and shaked. Natural air stream helps in separating grains or seed from straw. In case the velocity of natural air is too low for effective winnowing, the operation has to be postponed for quite sometime. In some parts of country, rain also comes in this period which results in losses. Moreover, lifting of basket, full with grains above shoulder height and continuous shaking involves drudgery and fatigue to the operator 101 iii) Manual cleaning of seeds or grains or other food products viz. spices using cleaning basket Supa or wiremesh sieve as continuous sitting posture and shaking the sieve or basket involves drudgeiy. iv) Sundrying of foodgrains, oilseeds, fruits or vegetables spices, coconut, chips or papad etc. In case of foodgrains 1-2 per cent losses due to insects, birds, rodents etc. besides contamination are reported. The method is dependent upon weather conditions and is slow, the quality of dried products are poor and high breakage during milling of food grains is reported. Moreover, in some parts of the country, the ambient temperature is very high during drying period resulting discomfort to the workers. In addition, the method requires large number of workers as well as a large drying area. v) Local methods and structures used for domestic and on farm storage of foodgrains or other crops. The structures used for foodgrains are neither moisture nor air proof and are prone to high damage due to insects rodents pests etc. Also they are not suitable for fumigation and need frequent repairs and maintenance. vi) Local methods of paddy parboiling which result in a typical odour due to fermentaiton and where grains are prone to attack of micotoxins, need large number of labourers and drying area. 102 Losses upto 1.5-2 percent during drying due to birds, insects and rodents are reported. If drying is delayed due to dependence on availability of solar energy, the quality of parboiled paddy is effected. Moreover these methods lack hygenic considerations. vii) Local hand grinder used for grinding of cereals, pulses and spices. Output is very low and operation is tedious as well as tiresome and creates backache and pains in hands. Output for pulse splitting is 30-40 kg/hour with 65-70 percent recovery. viii) Manual stripping, shelling or decorticating of vairous food grains or seed viz. maize, peanuts etc. without use of tool or machine. These methods causes injury to fingers and reduce the output of the workers after sometime due to fatigue. The average output is also very poor i.e. 1-2 kg/hour. Cashew nut-shelling is also done manually and its shelling causes injury to hands. ix) Hand operated rice hullers used in tribal areas or hill regions. These tools or equipment are not only labour intensive and time consuming but also result in high breakage of grains and their capacity as well as efficiencies are very poor. x) Foot operated local oil expellers and animal driven ghanis in which a high percentage of oil is wasted along with oil cake. xi) Knives and spike or 'Ciandasas' used for removal of stone from mango for preparing pickles, coconut dehusking, aracanut dehusking etc. xii) Bamboo baskets and sacks used for storage of fruits or vegetables wherein large percentage of losses take place. 103 xiii) Local method and equipment used for rice and maize flaking, roasting of chickpea etc. which give very low output and yield poor quality end products. xiv) Manual kneading of dough and rolling pins used in preparation of puri or papad. xv) Local methods of peeling of ginger or turmeric by rubbing the product against jute bags or by scrapping it with bamboo or by hand peeling and trimming. Average capacity is 30 kg/day and 2-3 percent material loss is reported in manual trimming while peeling with gunny bags gives 70 percent efficiency with 50 kg/ day capacity. xvi) Hand operated 'churn' used in dairy product processing and local methods of Khoa making. IMPROVED TOOLS, IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINES DEVLEOPED AND MANUFACTURED IN INDIA Research and Development institutions in India have developed a good range of different types of improved Tools, Implements and Machines (TlMs) for almost all types of post harvest and Food Processing activities done by farmers. Several manufacturers located all over the country manufacture many of these equipments, tools and machines. Table 4.2 gives a list of selected TIMs developed in the country excluding the wide range of food processing and packaging equipment that are available in the country suiting to the scale of operation of rural managed enterprises. These TIMs have capacities 2- 10 times that of traditional equipment and have features that are 104 employed in modern industrial scale processing. For the sole purpose of reducing drudgery, low initial cost and to avoid unnecessary replacement of human labour, automatic feed conveying and unloading are avoided which makes them relatively simpler to adopt, operate and manage. Though not still in very much use by Indian cultivators due to lack of efforts on their transfer of technology to create awareness, some of these TIMs have potential of being procured, tested and utilized by the rural folk of other developing countries. 105 Table - 4.2 Improved PHFP TIMS suitable for use by rural folk of developing countries SI. TIMS & its Suitability Approx. Power Labour Approx. No. status for crop/ capacity required Req. cost product (Kg/h) (No.) (Rs.) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) 1. Threshers & Winnowers 1.1 Drum type stripper Groundnut 20 Manual 1 400 1.2 Power Operated Groundnut 4 8000 Stripper 100 1.5 hp 1.3 Pedal Operated Sunflower threshers 45-100 Manual 1.4 Power threshers Wheat & 1000 other 200 5 hp foodgrains 1.5 Electrically All food 300 5 hp 3000 operated grains winnowers 1.6 Paddy winnower Paddy and 750 11 hp 2 10000 other food- grains 2. HuUers, Dehuskers, Decorticators and Shelters 2.1 Tabular maize Maize 15-23 Manual 1 20 sheller 2.2 Hand/pedal Maize 37-100 Manual 1 500-1500 operated maize sheller 2.3 Power operated Maize 300 1 hp 1 5,000 maize sheller 2.4 Hand/power Soyabean 35-100 Manual/ 1 3000 operated soyabean 2 hp huller 2.5 Groundnut hand Groundnut 35-40 Manual 1 250 operated decorticators 2.6 Sunflower Sunflower 10-12 Manual 1 ^ 400 decorticator 2.7 Coconut dehusker Coconut 150 mts Manual 1 2000 2.8 Cashew nut Cashew 10-12/d Manual 1 . decorticator nuts 106 3. Cleaners and Graders 3 1 Hand operated Wheat, 150-225 Manual I 650 double screen chickpea, grain/seed cleaner soyabean 3.2 Pedal-cum-power Wheat, 300-900 Manual/ 1-2 3500 operated grain/ paddy, 5hp seed cleaner mustard, sunflower, soyabean 3.3 Manual-cum- All food- ;500-200 0 Manual/ 1 3000 power operated grains and 5-3 hp cleaner oilseeds 3.4 Kisan grader- Various 400-500 Manual/ 1 6000 cum winnower foodgrains I hp & oilseeds 3.5 Winnower-cum- Foodgrains 500-600/d Manual 3 - cleaner 3.6 Potato grader Potato, onion 25 1 hp 2 10,000 3.7 Apple-cum- Potato, apple 1500 2hp 1 10,000 4. Driers 4.1 Solar cabinet Blackpepper, 35-50/ Solar 1 3500 dryer Coconut,papad batch energy chillies,potato s groundnut,leafy vegetables 4.2 Vegetable Cauliflower, 50 Kg/ 1.5 hp 1 15000 dehydrator onion, 12 h cabbage,etc. 4.3 Cocoa bean Cocoa bean 40 kg/ 1 2500 dryer 62 h 4.4 Agri. waste Coconut, 400 nuts/ 2 kg 1 2500 fired dryer Arecanut, 36 h waste/ Pepper, 150 kg/ hour Cocoa beans 90 h 40 kg 5. Mills and Extraction Units 5.1 Multipurpose Cereals, Wheat 1 hp 1 3000 grain mill -15 kg/h Pulses, chickpea -50 kg/h Spices Soybean -70 kg/h 107 Soyabean Safflower - 75 kg/h Safflower Coriander - 10 kg/h 5.2 Dais mill Pigeonpea, 100 kg/h 2hp 2 8000 Green gram black gram lentil 5.3 Wet grinder Wet grinding 20 Kg/h 1 hp 1 3500 of soyabean1 and other pulses 5.4 Portable power Groundnut, 70-90 kg/d 2hp 1 18000 ghani mustard, sunflower seasamum etc. 5.5 Table oil Rapeseed/ 30-35 kg/h 3-5 hp 1 1500- expellers mustard 2000 sunflower, linseed etc. 5.6 Chilli seed chilli 400 kg/d 5hp 1 5000 extractor fruits 6. Pulper, Peeler an d Slicer 6.1 Potato pulper Potato 350 kg/h 3 hp 1 5000 6.2 Potato Hand Potato 30-32 kg/h Manual 1 2000 operated peelers 6.3 Potato slicer Potato 30 Kg/h Manual 1 2500 7. Rice puffing Rice, corn 5-7 kg/h Wood 1 450 machine chickpea 8. Grain flour Wheat 80-120 kg/h 5 hp 1 10000 separator flour 9. Papad hand Pulses, 200 papad/h Manual 1 - operated rolling potato machines etc. 9.1 Papad power M 8 kg/h 5 hp 1 12000 operated machines Source : Report on Participation of Indian Women in Postharvest and Food processing activities I.C.A.R., ClAE, Bhopal, pg. 33. Chapter-5 SELECTION OF SAMPLE VILLAGES, FOOD LOSSES IN VILLAGES OF HIGH PRODUCTIVITY REGION The study area of Ganga-Son Divide has been divided into three agricultural productivity regions on the basis of Shafi's productivity index method of the measurement of agricultural productivity.' The Ganga-Son Divide consists of four districts namely, Bhojpur, Rohtas, Bhabua and Buxar. According to Shafi's method of measurement of agricultural productivity, Bhojpur lies in the high productivity region (Fig. 5.1). Measurement of productivity enables us to outline the areas that are performing rather less efficiently in comparison to the other agricultural regions. The area comprising this district has been categorised as a low lying alluvial plain being situated on the banks of the river Ganga and Son. It is, infact considered to be the best wheat growing area in the state. Rice, wheat, barley, grams and pulses are the main crops of the district. Gram is far the most important among the pulses grown in the district. The river Son and Ganges are the perennial sources of surface water. They can provide irrigation to major portions of agricultural lands. Ordinary wells are also used to be a good source of irrigation. Thiee villages belonging to the high producing region have been selected from three different blocks of the district in order to assess food losses occuring at various levels of postharvest technologies (Fig. 5.2). 109 z o 2 o uj O iij e o lu Q: > = UJ t IT \S\\N WSSNWWW S \ N \N*^ \ S N W \ \\ \ \ \ \ \ N S\ N.\\ \ S \ N S N \ \ ^ N V VS \ S \ s \ ^^^ \N S I \N \ \S \ N S N N \ S \ N N N \ N \ S S V \N S "^k :X N > > •«. \ N \ \ S NS \ N S \ N' \NV \ V\ Vi: r*-t- 110 standing crop ready for harvest (Paddy field) '^ Harvesting with the help of sickle Arranging the crops along with harvesting Crops left in the field for drying S^jiil^iP Bundles.of crops tied after drying Carrying the bundle of crop to the threshing floor by head load Ill SAMPLED VILLAGES 1) BACHARI The village Bachari of Piro block, situated at 25^18' north latitude and 84°24' east longitude, lies in the southern part of the district (Fig. 5.2). The village extends over 256.97 hectares (ha) having a population of 5000. The village has 242.91 ha of cultivated area. The total number of household of the village is 500 while number of household of farmers are 150. The total number of tractors found in the village is 5. Presently there are 30 threshers and 10 diesel pumpsets. The village is linked by an approach road both unmetalled and metalled nearly 2 Kms away from Dehri-Ara main road. Postharvest Practices The postharvest practices of the farmers are traditional. The area under different crops and production of surveyed households is presented in table 5. la. The major crop among cereals is rice grown in kharif season on 45.65 ha with production to the tune of about 1491.2 quintals. The other major crop is wheat covering an area of 39.29 ha producing about 1008 quintals grains. Among pulses, the nwsur is leading crop covering 3.78 ha of land producing 31.2 quintal of grains followed by gram and peas. Among oilseeds, mustard is only grown that too mixed with wheat producing 45.15 quintal of seeds. 112 es 2 K VO «n so »n ^ o V ^ VO VO ^^ fN SO so «0 00 TJ- >; s — o o o r4 I OS ei OS ON PO B 00 O «n •n l-H 0) •*d (N O 00 rv) (N ^- »n r^ I OD T3 _ 00 r- ^H ^H •^ "^ so o^ ^Mesi 9J OS o (N f*^ '* o 1—( ^^ Tt o so a\ OS > > O — (N so •s •o PU e B (U eQ r^es • uBM &. B 60 tn O c « ^ •4-) '5. s o o •a B es o H PO u ^^ >n fS P^ OO O Cv Ov r^ ^ tN O ON ' (N "<* O o 3 o B O « 3 • ^ u w> 'u i-< ea V-) 0\ 0\ oo SO t-- u •4irf es ^ (N Tf r-- (N 't OS i/i RS .^ ••-J 2 5 T3 o Cff •4-^ ;^ ^ TS ^ a. 3 o 6 C/3 (/J 3 3 a> U 5 ^ S a, S o es 1^ = &- -a > o o "es 3 • • s ,o O V3 rvi m "*' »n SO C/3 H C/3 113 1.1 Harvesting Harvesting requires the maximum labour in crop cultivation. Harvesting of crop is carried out manually by sickle resulting in huge losses of food crops. Small spade and scythe are also used to harvest few crops. Potato is mainly harvested by potato digger. In Bachari, rice come first in the harvesting loss (67.10 quintals) followed by wheat (45.36 quintals) loss of surveyed households. The harvesting loss of other crops are less than 2 percent. The losses are due to lodging of plants, shattering of grain and sometimes losses reach upto 80 percent due to bad weather conditions. The total harvesting loss of the village is 311.18 quintal which is equivalent to 108.57 millions K.calories (table 5.1b). 1.2 Drying Normally crops are sundried for 2-4 days in the field after harvesting. After that little drying is done on the threshing floor during threshing and winnowing. Paddy and some other kharif grains are sundried on a mud plastered courtyard surface for one or two days before storage. Maize cobs are dehusked and suspended in the dwelling where it goes through slow drying process. The crop losses during drying rice (22.37 quintal) followed by wheat (15.12 quintal), masur (0.47 quintal) gram and mustard are found at the loss of that is 0.36 and 0.65 quintal and least loss is recorded in peas (0.02 quintal). The total drying losses comes out to be 103.54 quintals equivalem to 36.11 million K.calories (Table 5. Ic). 114 o o o o h^ o o o o o '-0 o o o ON wi o O o as TT o o rs 00 >o r^ :^ -^ OS V-) 00 ^n OS 00 p-iH o Tt "^ o 00 OS m «o "— o IT) OS CN ^" -* 00 OS o 09 »-< BQ ce 1 o 00 OS (1^ I tl V) M •M«M 00 o o VO >n o Tf tn 00 OS ,*^ r—t m (N 'TT o o ^ '^ > •a r-' •o — »—c d ri r-" ^N VO Tt O c o; Si - ro ^1^ • i^ c c 1 >» 1 BQ "« '5. V c :^ ei) u o .c o •• ^n es 'ER DD -^d H eo J= 1 1 1 1 1 1 lU o DXI > DC CS 3 t/5 V (U > d Z o ^ "~ fS m r-' io o 115 O o O O O o o >n fS o ^H O *r\ c^ 00 VD •n v£) fS m ^ O • r^ >—1 ON —< VO ^™ r- ON • r—1 m (N VO W-) ON O ^ r-- fS — <—1 m •O O r-- >n r^ O o o tN 1 o OS cs ON ON u ^" CQ r~- fN VO r^ fN ON ON > O ei o u u ^•H B «^ 60 V5 CU 1 C P. «i ^ CS ••" CI. u 03 O o SQ 1 1 1 1 H • • J- S 3 *>> o Q J= (+- Q -3o (L> UD •*< CS _u o o o o o o O C V o o o o o o en u es o o o o o o c/) "o o o o o o o Q C/3 O =5 4) O DX) CS > "T3 3 "O lU > t/3 CA •*-» ^ >. >. =3 o (U B m "« c5 u o JS Kl a 3 *- u 5 ^ ^ a. ^ 3 (2 CL OJ o 3 O c« '•^ 1.3 Threshing As per survey it was observed that traditional method are still prevalent for threshing few crops especially pulses and mustard. But now due to increase in labour cost farmers have adopted modern method of threshing. Threshers are also being hired from big farmers. In Bachari 60.00 percent of paddy is threshed by tractor treading while 40.00 percent by animal treading. All the production of wheat is threshed by power thresher. Peas, masur, gram and mustard are manually threshed by beating with stick and their percentages are 95.30, 89.545, 85.25 and 80.00 percent respectively. The total threshing loss is 167.06 quintal equivalent to 58.30 million K.calories as depicted in the Table 5.Id. 1.4 Winnowing Winnowing is usually done manually from elevated place using supa. Sometimes mechanical winnowing is also done by power operated winnower. The winnowing of crops like gram, peas and mustard are totally manual while mechanical winnowing of wheat, rice and masur is done in order of 25.00 per cent, 20.00 per cent and 10.00 per cent respectively. The total loss of winnowing is 138.36 quintals (48.27 million K.calories. Table 5.1e). 1.5 Storage As far as storage is concerned big farmers use pucca bins to store crops but they hardly follow the scientific method of storage. Small and marginal farmers generally store about 60 to 65 per cent of 117 O o O O O o o ^ ^ o 00 O o «0 m VO • a VO (N VO ^- — m o 00 u — o Ov o m »-H VO \0 (N Tt 1—' .—( »n V5 L;^ 00 O (N rs) VO ON en 1 OS o 0) ON ^ > Q O o VO o o ;-i •• •a u O o rf r- o ea B 1 •a o 03 o o o O 'Si-" o »-H 09 VO 3 O > 3 -a > C/3 c« •4—1 ^ >. >> C. E ZJ o 3 (U d o 3 i/j O "" o o o O o o O NO o VO o m >o o NO •^ ON VO ON ON 00 r^ »— 1/5 r^ «n I— 0) u 4. 88 >> V3 60 *r. a. c >^ C "« o. n o. u O O C o o "c O o o u oa on d v-) 1 d 1 1 *ei u fN (U c/3 3 O DXI CS > 3 -a en t3 > >> a. 3 u o u E (/3 to J2 C4 t/5 3 u 5 2 3 U a. o o 3 Z O C/3 ••^ ri r^ TT «/^ NO {/3 119 their produce for their own consumption in storage structures. Earthen container is the chief means of storage of grains. Rice (66.68 per cent), mustard (65.00 per cent), masur (52.65 per cent), gram (48.67 per cent), peas (30.25 perc ent) and wheat (26.30 per cent) are stored in earthen containers. Except rice and wheat low percentage of products is stored in cement containers. More than 35 per cent of products are stored in jute bags except wheat (25.25 per cent). The total loss in storage is recorded to be 224.69 quintals (78.40 million K.calories, Table 5. If). 1.6 Transportation Transport of materials in the area is mostly done as head loads in gunny bags. Bullock carts are not common. Ekka are mostly used in place of bullock carts. Major proportion of foodcrops are transported by tractor trolley. 15 to 30 per cent of produce are disposed off by head load while remaining proportion of produce is transported by ekka. The total loss is recorded is 51.12 quintal (17.81 million K.calories. Table 5.1g). 2) HARIPUR The village Haripur of Koilwar block is situated at 25°36'30" north latitude and 84''47'30" east longitude. It is 6 Kms from Haripur block. River Son is on its eastern side and river Ganga is 4 to 6 Km north. Embankment has been built to protect the village from floods of the Son river. 120 o o o o O o o o VO o m o — — NO *0 o ON O O o 00 o o o — o ^ 00 r4 I ON OS ON 3 o 00 u k bX) ON U V CS I DXI M t^ es Cfa>) ^ c o ON ^i^ VI O 3 "S ON > o o t3 «•- PQ o o 1-H u n C.E en V ON V5 eu CD oo "o cN 1 CS •^ — — • ^ c u &) ^ R o ^1^ lU u 1/3 o o S QQ .. H CS (U 0) u Di) •(-' 3 es bi) a u CS CO •"-5 o e o -w \- C/5 3 u "O at VI O o u ^ bX) o w« 3 CS o u NO O ee (U (/3 Q = 3 lU J= es oo o O NO NO O NO NO 00 o 2 •4—» U NO NO o 3 u >^ O OX) OJ DC CS > •a ~~ 3 T3 (U > ka >> >^ re u ^mm L> 3 c/l C/l CS Ri O rt > re re 3 3 o E U ^ O 2 S or) H w< o 3 C/3 — o o O o o o o so cs o VO o "^ w-1 ON rl- ON u — r^ oo r^ ^- oo •^ • NO r- «o o •— m «n VO ^ >n — — vO •o o oo oo VO ^— r- r^ (N NO so CA o 1/1 oo O r^ ^ ^ o o o oo vO m' 00 _ ON m CQ I O) OO ON I OX) O u r- ON o ON u 1 1 1 1 >-. c« CQ "D5a U CO c u ^ OS o so •^ri V2 a; R •i-l ' : ^ u L. >» a. o O n d >n ri- •^ u- « H H «n ^o ro 3 u so Q. O o .-, c, 3 O (« OX) o o o o o o •£ C o o o o o o -o pa « d c d Tdf "d- 0d0 d • H 0^ U — ra rr u u 'u QM o o o o o o C/3 Q "O -a o o o o o o u o X O .md fdN dfN (dN CNl ID C/3 4J O OX) > X C4 3 in •a > CM .4_i >. C c« O u e 5 in W3 > "« o J= CQ C(•C3 a 3 i- -*^ U 5 ^ o S ^ ^ o 3 Z O t/5 — (N m '^' >o NO t/5 122 Rice is cultivated mainly by broadcast method locally called as Paira dhan in waterlogged and unlevelled area. Soil is sandy. The farmers usually practice mixed cropping system. The total area of the village is 242.91, out of which 41.89 per cent is devoted to cultivation. The village has 1500 population. The total households of the village is 90 while farmers households are 70. The total number of tractor, thresher and pumpsets are 5, 25 and 32 respectively. The electrical pumpsets are relatively lesser in number that is 15. It is approached by 7 Kms, unmetalled road from main road. Post-Harvest Practices In Haripur (Table 5.2a) rice ranks first covering an area of 37.52 per cent to the total harvested area followed by wheat, 32.12 per cent. Other crops which cover less than 5 per cent of the area in descending order are masur {AAA per cent), arhar (3.56 per cent), barley (3.25 per cent), hajra (2.98 per cent) and mustard (2.64 per cent). Maize and potato have more than 5 per cent area that is 5.37 per cent and 8.12 per cent respectively. 2.1 Harvesting Sickle is mainly used for the harvesting of crops while small spade is used for potato digging. The rice suffers the loss of 32.40 per cent and wheat 30.55 per cent. Harvesting of potato also claims large harvesting loss of total produce that is 24.01 per cent. Other crops of maize, pulses, mustard record below 7 per cent loss. The harvesting loss 123 2 S r^ m «n (N »n r- o r-- "<* m -^ vO ^^ r- r^ ON ON m m ON >2 d vd d fs d d d r~-" d r^ ro CN tN m e 0) o O ro oc '•w 00 O 00 O oo rs O "* o O r~^ I = 2 Cv •rf I i^ .2 s c V u (N t^ 'vD 00 fN »n Tt '^ rN O o pa ^ u •n m •n Ov ^^ QQ ^ u o rf C30 00 (N •^ "si- r- r-- o Tf VO 'w' vO ro m m (N n- ON — NO r^ t-; E vO rj "^ (^ u o > 2 3 V o • tU M< o ^ 3 r© c C/5 fN 00, ON' 1Z3 r^ rt «r^ vd r-' H C/3 124 in Haripur amounts to 218.85 quintals (108.15 million K.calories) to the total produce (Table 5.2b). 2.2 Drying After harvesting crops are dried in field for 3-4 days and then they are carried to their respective barns of farmers. Losses during drying are due to birds, rats and weight loss and sometimes dust storms cause heavy losses of crops. The total drying loss is recorded to be 67.86 quintals (34.89 million K.calories. Table 5.2c). 2.3 Threshing Threshing in Haripur is usually carried out in traditional manner by hand beating or bullock treading. Thresher is used for threshing wheat masur etc. Threshing of arhar and paddy is mainly done by hand beating and their straw is used for roofing purpose. Wheat is threshed by power thresher. Table 5.2d depicts that 95.00 per cent maize, 85.63 per cent masur and 40.56 per cent mustard are threshed by hand beating but percentage of threshing of crops by power thresher in descending order are mustard (59.44 per cent), masur (14.37 per cent) and maize (5.00 per cent). The total loss by threshing in this village is recorded to be 101.67 quintals (34.60 million K.calories). 2.4 Winnowing Table 5.2e depicts that winnowing in Haripur is carried out mainly manually. The winnowing of rice, wheat, barley and masur is done by power driven winnower while winnowing of arhar, maize, mustard is 125 O o o o o o o O o o o\ ^ o vO ->* ^ o •^ o (N o rN 00 es 'TT ^—t I—> o^ «* vO oo r- r^ OJ t/3 3 O ID TS (U > tf3 >-. OJ o N cC OJ 3 -4—* o. OJ t/i (/5 > "« Q P3 3 •4—' '41' o 3 _E 5 < OQ 1 QQ E2 Q- • o o u Z 3 v5 (N m •* >n vd I-^ od o^' o 126 O o U-) o o o o o o »n r- >0 a r< .c s >% *n o « so • ^ 1 ^ e v 1 C8 H^ V "« o s >. u PQ 'u 1 1 1 1 1 1 o • • ••-> h bX) 1) s V •<-• 5'i U SO o c u. o o 5 QQ OJ) (U CQ o c O O o o o o o o o u o O o o o o o o o *^ u o O o o o o o o u "o o O o o o o o o o [/: Q C/3 2 X o >^ 3 >^ O OX) 3 irt -o (L> > V3 +- >. ^ o >i CO 3 •4-' a. u N c^ in > "« 3 •4—• on 3r5 o C 2 < CQ 5 :2 2 2 on ^ • o 3 Z O C/3 ^" ri m Tt >n o t^ 00 o^' C/3 127 O o O O o o o o o »*^ _ >n oo Ov r- o fN o vo r-- OO cc rs| .—i l^ 00 rf »—1 r^ 00 >—c * u o r^ rj- — «n •n 00 oo oo NO ;^ >o ON Q O o o i^ Tt u O o o r<^ "^ re s « aj 1 >/^ 1 1 d d rj-' Ov BO ^ in o o 50 bX) o ^— '-' s a. _c • ^ "E. V3 a. a> o . «* u o E2 x: 1^ H O (^ O 1 1 1 o 'c ly-i ^' 1 1 1 so 0) ^ ~" c fix 3 V '4-1 -o s V- V (U u u a_ o a. t~ 4; ce o o o o fo vo Cu 3 o o o o vo «0 re C 1 1 >o (L> 1/5 3 O fiD CO > -p (A > >^ re >. re >> u S 5 re o ^ V3 > "« '5 re 3 3 5 < OQ 1 CO F2 • p o 5 Z o c/5 ^^ 2.5 Storage In Haripur, besides mud kothi, jute bags, cemented containers etc. there is unique method of storage locally called Khop which is made of kasi. It is circular in shape with slope roof like huts. Khop is placed outside the house of farmers in open. It is used to store rabi crops packed in jute bags along with wheat straw. Wheat straw saves the crops from rats and moisture. Capacity of storage depends upon the quantity of foodgrains available with farmers. Kharif crops are stored in cemented rooms or kacchi kothi. In Haripur (Table 5.2f) foodgrain stored in earthen container with their respective percentages are rice 84.50 per cent, arhar 76.25 per cent, mustard 67.55 per cent maize 65.00 per cent, barley 32.50 per cent wheat 31.25 per cent and masur 30.30 per cent. More than 60 per cent of rahi crops except mustard are stored in sacks. A very low percentage of produce are stored in cement and metallic bins. The storage loss obtained is 133.12 quintals which is equivalent to 69.20 million K.calories. 2.6 Transportation In Haripur, more than 50 per cent of produce is disposed off by tractor trolley less than 20 per cent by ekka and remaining produce by 129 o o «n o o o O tn so o VD t~- (N o o o «n «r) es ^- — r- t> VO "* Tt ^^ • f— VO •^ rv) VO ^- — 't ON • ^— ^^ (N >n o r-- »-^ o •n (N O 0) 9i O D£ es > n: 3 T3 > en Q. 03 •4-1 O u "5 5 3 E 5 < 5 on F2 o Z o 1/5 fN m Tt >n SO I^ 00 130 o o o O o o o o o m «o (N m so so o i-H o m »—< 00 GO "* • V-m) OS fS O«nS r- so o m »o ^H^ o o »n • 00 Tl- -"^ OS »—1 m o m m n N^ ^- Tf r^ Tt en oo so 0^ >o m ">* V) OS m '^ r-i o EA 0\ CA so o m ^- 00 vo .— o I—< (N d u 3 Z O ^ ^' fs' m rt >o so r-' 00 !/3 131 o o o O o o O o O c: m "^ •o O o o O o 3 Q> O OJ cs > T3 > K •^rf >. ^ re o >^ a. OJ 3 o o tn re > "« re .c as 3 <*i* o "5 re o 3 U 5 2 < ^ 2 c/0 ^ o o 3 Z C l/D ^" PNI m '^' >n so" r^ 00 c/0 132 headload. The loss during transportation of produce are minimum. It is recorded to be 22.60 quintals, equivalent to 11.68 million K.calories (Table 5.2g). 3) BELOUNA The village Belouna of Behea block lies in the north western part of the district Bhojpur. It is located at 25°34'30" north latitude and 84°27' east longitude. This village is linked by an approach unmetalled road of 1 Km from Ara-Buxar highway. North of this highway lies the diara areas of the river. The village extends over 75.68 ha and its cultivated area is 67.84 ha. The village has 800 population. The total number of households in the village is 98 and households of farmers are 60. There is only one tractor available that too for brick industry. There are 7 threshers and number of diesel pumpsets are 10. There are only two electric pumpsets but due to lack of electricity it is proved to be useless. Post-Harvest Practices In Belouna rice ranks first covering an area of 43.15 per cent followed by wheat 36.92 per cent, arhar 5.19 per cent and masur 5.17 per cent, maize 4.27 per cent gram 3.48 per cent and potato 1.82 per cent (Table 5.3a). 3.1 Harvesting Sickle, spade and khurpi are major tools used during harvesting of crops. The harvesting loss of vairous crops are - rice 57.66 per cent. 133 2 ffi 3 CO ON >o V) r- o ON 4> ^, c^ — 00 ON •rl- >o NO 00 _ "O vo" r)-' csi ^ — >:S •^ rsi »n o o o (N I c ON ON ON OS e 00 o o o o oo o in o o m »« ON %-> o O o ^ m — en o rj- NO Tt od 00 Ch r-^ oo (N o r~-' "'t NO ON oc fN r^ ON (N m BQ c C I o. a. •*i< o C o o E2 o 0) «n r-- Ov fN oo r- (N o CO — (N —'_ ON Tf — 00 o •^" «n n in 1 d o eo c c < R 5 •a U < p _ _ in «n rj- ON NO -^ re 00 "^ r- (N o «o rN t^ ro 00 t/5 1 00 ^"^ ri NO ^"™ fN o ro Q 5. •* N© >1 > •T3 3 T3 "o en o re U 13 C 5 •4-» OJ 5 E re (/2 re o t/5 o "3 ^ J= ce re 3in -*-• 3 » U 5 2 < ^ ^ 2 o o 6 "J^ X — D_ T3 > U M^ o • C6 o > 3 • 3 O C/3 (N r'^ ^' lO NC K 00 C/D H 00 134 o o »n O o O O O *r\ »-M o oo r^ fN o OV vD O oo CO OO 00 »^ ^ — ^ •^ r- c<^ ON o 00 r^ o O m r- <* o 00 o • 00 r*-) (N »n o '^ ON VO o^ o \^ OS — c^ — 1—' «o Tf rs 00 (N (N 00 I c ON 3 ON O ON 0) en CQ E« o ^ oo a> en ON Dll a I cs O W5 3 O OX) > 3 c/} t3 > h- o 3 -4-< Q (U rt 1/3 > "« o JS r" cd KJ 3 •J b. -41^ ^ 'c5 3 "S £ 2 o u 5 < ^ o s S a. C/5 ^ 6 3 Z O c/5 (N r^ '^' »n d t~- 00 CO 135 wheat 37.42 per cent and potato 2.77 per cent, arhar 0.64 per cent, masur 0.45 per cent maize, 0.41 per cent, and gram 0.27 per cent. The harvesting loss in Belomia amounts to 149.37 quintal but the range of variations in harvesting loss per hectare of crops is much wide such as 294.17 Kg in rice to 17.22 Kg in gram. Use of modern technology to minimize the harvesting loss is inevitable but they are too costly to be used on small acreage (Table 5.3b). 3.2 Drying Mostly sundrying is practised which requires only ground surface or any hard surface. Rice ranks first in drying loss (67.49 per cent) followed by wheat (23.24 per cent). The total drying loss as depicted in table 5.3c. is 23.55 quintal (3.56 million K.calories). 3.3 Threshing Primitive method of threshing is still used but the use of thresher has nowadays picked up. Big farmers are using threshers while small farmers are hiring the threshers from big farmers to thresh their rahi crops. Excluding }yiasvr more than 60 per cent of crops are threshed by hand beating and their percentages are - arhar 100.00 per cent, maize 100 per cent, rice 83.33 per cent, gram and mustard each of 66.67 per cent. Wheat is solely threshed by threshers irrespective of the size of the landholdings of the farmers. Masur 83.33 per cent and mustard 33.33 per cent are also threshed by threshers. The losses during threshing occurs to be 38.23 quintals (12.87 million K.calories) (Table 5.3d). 136 o o«nooooo 0Q 1 — ro >n O >— — c« uo (J 0) •o ro J= C >^ • a C3 CO 1/1 c 1 C O) CQ '5. .:^ a> u u c: S CQ a H o • • 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 s OX) B u u e 3 '>> =0 u 1 O Q a <^ pa o '4-1 on p u o ooooooo s o ooooooo '4-t d o o" o o o" o o ir. u "o o ooooooo Q on 2 O o -c OJ C/1 > O DX) •p « 3 O C/5 f- d z — rNir^-«*>n'or~-oO ;/: 137 V^ W-) vo O o O O o o O ^ (N ^ O (N fN rf 00 oo r4 (^ 00 O Os •—i HM o ^^ m OS O ^ >n r^ «n cs rN VO "<:1- rt O o o '* 00 oo '* ro ^ 00 IK! u 3 O DX) R > V (L) > (n C (U r-' (U N S 5 "« O C/3 > u 4= X c5 03 3 4^ '5 3 u 5 2 < ^ O 2 S f2 d Z c c/5 (N r«^ '^' «o O r-- " 138 3.4 Winnowing In this village, separation of grain from straw is done with the help of natural air stream. For this purpose dalia or supa are used. The cleaned material is dropped in front of fans. Maximum loss occur in rice and least in maize. The winnowing loss is 19.09 quintal and 6.57 million K.calories (Table 5.3e). 3.5 Storage To store grains farmers use number of traditional storage structures whose capacity vary from 1 quintal to 30 quintals. These structure can be broadly be grouped into above and below ground structure. The farmers of this village stores their rati crop in underground storage locally known as hakhar. Unlike the farmers of village Haripur and Bachari the rabi crops are placed in bakhar layer wise and wheat straw is used for separating the two layers of different crops. In this structure losses due to insects pests and rats usually do not take place. Losses are due to seepage of water. This happens occasionally and during the year of heavy rainfall. In Belouna it was observed that earthen container stores arhar (72.52 per cent), maize (60.55 per cent), rice (50.66 per cent), mustard (42.89 per cent), masur (39.51 per cent) and gram (35.51 per cent) as depicted in Table 5.3f. Exlcuding potato less than 40 percent is stored in sacks. Bakhar stores wheat 69.86 per cent, masur 60.49 per cent, mustard 57.11 per cent and gram 55.25 per cent. The total storage loss is recorded to be 71.73 quintal (26.40 millions K.calories). 139 o o •n 0 0 0 0 V-) VO o rf .—1 "^ 0 -^ 00 00 00 00 ON o >o ''^l- 0 n ON •T '* r*^ m "t -T}- Tt m r^ 0 • o tN r^ ^— (N "* '* t^ L£ 0 00 o o »3 o CNI I c o ON .J ON ON 3 '^ r~ ON ON •^ r^ 00 00 o\ /^^ 00 o O Ov 0 0 0 ^^ 0 03 00 r-' o O (N 0 d d ON a i/l s ON bi> a -^ I R VI en r~ ^^ O ON > ^ ON Vt •o CQ c 9i U es >> P^ en *n 09 e >, c 1 v pa "es a. a ^ s DX) u o ^ u e *c ,« o DX) 1 1 1 1 1 1 H oa o ' c c u L. ^ c 3 o s 60 C B C S s O 3 o O) bX) « ^^ -4^ 85 o O 0 0 0 0 k- c 3 o o eC C o o o 0 0 0 0 en u CS o" o o 0 0 d d (U 0) o o o 0 0 0 0 U ^ "—I "—I Cu — ^ ^" ^— — 2 X) en 3 0 &XI es > 5 T3 > VI s o '5 4: ,c t« =J U 5 S < ^ 0 S 2 C/0 |2 o c u Z 3 c/5 r-i ro •^' wi •d r- o ~ 140 o o •n o O o O o >n »«^ o VO o\ "* O rg •^ (S ^ m r- ON >/^ Tf "<* NO Tt CO '^"V O fN «N m ON r- ^— ^-* ON 00 r- O a O '^ bX) 1 • 1 • 1 1 • 1 i: e8 R -«-l c 5 J" r- «n 00 rf O o V en BQ , , o 3 es 00 OS d ON d >-5 X! ^ r^ 5.E VI? >n (N W-) ^^ ON 5 5 OO 1 , O o Ov •n VO r~ m m -* to 3 >^ O > — ^3 5 TO > »3 •4-* Ri o a. c3 £ 5 •4—* •4-^ o lU C/3 > CO 3 o 3 E 5 < 6 a. F2 • p o Z o (/5 -" rsl f^ "TT o o o o o O O o o •/) R o 00 »— ''^ o (N r^ o 00 •^ U fN VO o W-) QQ 1 0) 00 V V) ON bX) EA I e« o u r- u o ON > •o 1 1 1 1 1 ON >^ "B R OS PQ pa U R en bt v B f*^ j= B V cs o CQ V •*-> vi a § -*-> 'o. % ^ o o a CI. Xt u c; a. u o o O CA R "o 1 1 , 1 1 , 1 1 o E2 B u t- R H H u iT •^^ 3 O so a. O. O o R o o o o o o o o c B o o o o o o o 3 .1^ o t3 oa cs .:^ "O >n W-J o" o" «o o >n H •<^ U so (N ^-> t^ ^— m en 00 U 1 B n o d Z o c/5 ^•" rsi m Tt- •/"I ^ r- oo 142 3.6 Transportation Transport of harvested crop in this village is mostly done as headload and ekka. Except rice, wheat and potato more than 60 percent are transported as headload. The remaining bulk of crops are transported by ekka. The transport loss is recorded as 6.77 quintal (2.49 millions K.calories, Table 5.3g). 143 oe '3D s -a o D. Ui rt H ffi ffi tJ CU rt tt-i B 3 o O 4> 'CQ in Q o a, •H j:: u ca CQ c i-i tM^^^^M^^:?^:^:^^^^^^:^^ VO (S 3§EJU30J3J Chapter-6 SELECTION OF SAMPLE VILLAGES, FOOD LOSSES IN VILLAGES OF MEDIUM PRODUCTIVITY REGION The district Rohtas lies in medium productivity region on the basis of Shafi's method of measurement of agricultural productivity. The district has two parts, the plain and the plateau region. Upto the foothills of the Kaimur the area consists of the alluvial soil and is naturally fertile. But by the time the plains approaches the foothills, the soil becomes stony and poor in fertility. The river Son and Karamnasa are the perennial sources of surface water and can provide irrigation to major portion of agricultural lands. Paddy, wheat, maize and barley are the main cereal crops of the district. Among pulses gram occupies the maximum area. Potato is the main cash crops. Three villages has been selected from medium productivity region to assess the food losses of this area during postharvest practices. SAMPLED VILLAGES 1) BHADOKHARA The village Bhadokhara of block Tilouthu is situated at 24°50' north latitude and 84°2'30" east longitude in the south-eastern part of the Rohtas district. Being surrounded on three sides by Kaimur hills it is approached by metalled road which is 7 Kms from Tilouthu. The total area of the village is 752.95 ha out of which 566.80 ha is devoted to the cultivaiton of various crops. The population of the village is 3,000 and the number of households is 400, out of which the number of farmers household is 300 and those who do not possess land Carrying the harvested crop with tractor trolley to the threshing floor . Manual threshing of paddy i^ Threghing.of paddy by tractor treading Author is observing the threshing of wheat by thresher Rethreshing to separate the foreign bodies from grain Winnowing o'f crops with the help of supa 145 do farming on batai system. There are 7 tractors in the village and 50- 60 threshers. The total number of diesel pumpsets are 25 and electrical pumpsets are 125 in number. There is no any govt, tube-well in the village. Farmers have private electric tubewells. Tarai fields are well fed by waterfalls from the hills. Paddy is dominant crop of this village. Potato farming is also been favoured by the farmers of this village because soil is sandy which is suitable for its cultivation. Postharvest Practices Postharvest practices in this village is partially mechanised. They still practice traditional methods of farming. The principal field crops and productivity of this area is given in table 6.1a. Rice covers 43.06 per cent of area followed by wheat 30.87 per cent, arhar 8.75 per cent, potato 7.22 per cent and other crops such as masur, maize, mung cover less than 5 per cent of area. 1.1 Harvesting Sickle is solitary weapon used for harvesting foodcrops while potato digger is used for potato digging. Farmers pick by hand the pods of pulses leaving stalks to recoup the fertility of soil. Harvesting losses are due to rats, birds and wild animals (wild pig and neel gay). Bad weather also contributes to the losses occassionally reaching upto 80-100 per cent loss. The descending order of harvesting losses are rice 43.73 per cent, potato 33.12 per cent, wheat 16.56 per cent. The remaining crops suffer the loss of less than 3 per cent and their 146 -, '^ 2 K 00 o 00 O o •<:f >n O OO ** ^, 00 rl- r*-! 3 C (L) C3 >^ 3 C 50 ^ O O C 'a. ii H o- u o 3 vO «n (N _ OO ON rNi r- o (U O r- C> vn o m OO ^ OO ON NO o 00 r- o ON ^- NO '^ 00 r^ oc u 'e? o — «N ON ON «o ON m m SO d d -O! > 2 T3 o Q. M •a o N £ 3 (/3 4J u O •^ 3 're j= _S cti 3 X o 3 a u 5 < 2 ^ ^ o ^ ^ 'g a. o :r — c- - flj > ->o. o d > — Z -w 3 o c/5 — r^i r^, tf >o NO K 00 ON 5 or; 147 o r- o O o o o o o t^ O w o >n o vO o o o VO o t^ r-- u o '^ c^ 'O MD Tf o (N "^ (N — (N ^ 00 r^ r- oo m >n ^ (N t^ o :^' (N — o — >o >o •^ ^D VO r- 00 o o 00 m •* ON rn ON o oo (N o\ I ON o ON •o ON R o ^ 00 ON I r~ — O O ^^^ »o '^ o o O ^ o r- 00 ON y—*v vO •rf o o vO o o OO CQ MB c R o O o o O o o o O 3 o o o o o o o o o 5 u C OS d d d d d d d d d o o o o o o o o o (U a. ^ Q o (/I 3 O (U > X 3 •p I/) (/2 4—' c3 o > 00 p 3 aj c5 C/3 1/2 > o r" 'c5 J= ce CC 3 jj E ^ 5 o 3 O U 5 < S S ^ o s 2 a. f- (LI ^ p 3 Z O c/i (^i rn Tf >o ^c r-- 00 ON 148 respective percentages are arhar 2.21 per cent, maize 1.91 per cent and gram 1.23 per cent. According to table 6.1b the total harvesting losses are 753.08 quintals (193.29 million K.calories). 1.2 Drying All the crops are sundried. Kharif crops are left in the field for 3-4 days while rahi crops are taken to their respective barns same day where they are left for drying till threshing. Losses are due to weight loss, birds, rats, shattering of grains etc. In paddy drying losses are more 51.68 per cent followed by potato 21.13 per cent and wheat 19.25 percent. Remaining crops have losses of less than 3 per cent. The total contribution of the drying losses is 219.73 quintals (63.13 million K.calories, Table 6.1c). 1.3 Threshing Threshing is done both manually and mechanically. Animals treading is also used to thresh few crops. The arhar, mun}^ and maize are threshed by hand beating with sticks completely. More than 60 per cent of crops are mechanically threshed by power thresher. Their percentages are wheat 100.00 per cent, rice 65.50 per cent, masur 61.30 per cent and mustard 60.45 per cent. Crops are also threshed by treading under bullock feet and their percentages are more than 30 per cent; gram 85.50 per cent, masur 38.70 per cent rice 34.50 per cent and mustard 30.10 per cent. Table 6.Id depicts the threshing losses to be 257.72 quintals which is equivalent to 85.84 million K.cal. 149 O o O O c o o o •T) ON es 00 c vO O — CO 00 oo (N Tt r«-i •«* m cn — — — 00 00 O ca (^ O O >— ^O oc 00 o- — o — 00 Cv ON &) I 0X1 i/i r4 cs 0) "•• C/i OS ^™ 1/1 > O re o 3 •V f e ^ 3 cs so C m 1 e c 11 h- es a. .£ u p n 1 S o H • • OJ o bc c a oa so Q es 3 o 0) 0^ DX) CS -o o o o o o c o o o c o o o o o c o o o u o o o o o o o o o "o o o o o o c o o o a. re 2 o -^ -O 3 a> >. O U) u e« :: n: ZJ •!J • Mrt > >. c so crt f— tl> ^m •~ o ca «8 « u 3 '5 cec cd 3 •^rf x: O -s O E U < ^ a :E s on t- •» o 3 Z O (/3 — CM >o ^c oo OS 150 o o o O o o o o o V3 o IK o o o (N »J I ON o 00 00 r~i "* t^ OS •n r-) t^ >> C/2 3 O fin re > T3 3 -p > W5 1-^ CO r- c OJ 3 o t/5 > "re CO u o c3 re CC =3 •«i* « x: 3 u 5 < S ^ a :i ^ t/3 ^ d p 3 Z o c/5 1.4 Winnowing Manual winnowing of crops are still widely prevalent. Hand winnowing by supa or hand operated fans are used to do the job. Power operated winnower are used when produce is in large quantities and natural air stream is weak. Rice 29.50 per cent, wheat 34.50 per cent, masitr and mustard 20.00 per cent are mechanically winnowed. More than 60 per cent of crops are manually winnowed. Their losses according to table 6.1e is 266.38 quintals (90.12 million K.cal.). 1.5 Stroage In village Bhadokhara (table 6. If) farmers sell their produce to traders or brokers from the threshing floor only. They store grains only for their self consumption and seed. Usually they store their grains in pakki kothi, kacchi kothi or mud kuthi and jute bags whether they are big farmers or small farmers. Rati crops are stored with wheat straw in jute bags. Metallic bins and underground storage structures are not in vogue in this village. Potato 80.00 per cent, wheat 70.45 per cent, mustard 40.00 per cent rice 24.50 per cent, and arhar 20.30 per cent are stored in pakki kolhi or cemented rooms. More than 60 per cent of crops are stored in earthen containers; their percentages in descending order are rice 75.50 per cent, mi4ng 70.00 per cent, maize 68.50 per cent, masur 65.75 per cent, arhar 64.20 per cent and 60.00 per cent of both gram and mustard. The remaining crops are stored in jute bags or sacks. Table 6.If records the storage loss to be 579.97 quintals (161.00 million K.cal.). 152 o 3 u O (LI R > -a ^ 3 > a. CO c3 lU c5 N 5 o E C/3 > IS cc c r^ c/5 -fcj u CJ 3 "S cC a 3 U 5 < ^ < O 2 S 3 ^ s C/5 u o o ;z 1/5 rsj r-) rf «o vo' r-- 00 c/: 153 es O o O O O O O o o O O «n VO (N 00 TT o fS «n ON oH OO :^ (N •—1 O CN VO VO ,-v «n VO r*^ Ti Tt VO -* «o r- Tt t-> , a^^ 00 <7v o en 00 vO w-i «o cs O ON o • o 00 (N Ov ON o ri d d d cs I—I CN 6\ o ON 0\ B JS 3 O O pp -4-> 00 1 en ei) » L. DD 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 ON 9i « es •o u e o ON O P -S ON ;_ -u • - CS t^ -ii^ B o o V-) o o f<^ •^_ • 5 S V c 'es «n o o 00 VO &£ -*d "^ 1 1 1 ' _c 5 <» s B d d d d00 1 ^ e 2 5 CN r^ r^ rf '5. u u 2 ^ o ja 1Z3 cs ' S u H O cs GR 4> •t-J « ^a 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 CQ CO :g la ;^ 3 ••J ^•' o o o -4^ B on '« o o o o o iTi o o o o (^ 1 1 2 cs B d od d d "o bH r^ VO t~ VO VO VO VO >. CA 3 4) O CS > Ui "O ^ 3 -o (U > t/5 4-1 o 60 N u o C/3 "es ca o :3 ••-> 3 u s < S ^ ^ O S :^ o fS e_ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a\ R >/~. m '* vO vC 0 r^ •rt •o l^ 0 U C "^ cn Ov •r^ 00 r- r- r^ 00 r>- ^ ON r^ 0 »/-> 00 t^ IT) ON VO •n ^' — — 0 (N — m r~ Tj- TT »^ ir, f^ "^ (N 00 en •^ en O o o ei o C- 00 _ 00 _ r<-) ^^ "* 00 r^ t~ (N C 0 00 0 00 0 s >o ro -^ -^ • ON o r^. 0 0 0 K 0" 0 rj 0 ON d ON 09 en 00 en ON V m I 01) O u ce ^ r^ -«-> ON o 1 1 u 1 1 1 1 1 1 ON > c >-, "3 ee w^ R BQ tt U R 3 0X1 en s • e O ' ^o 3 Qi -hri C O 1 R ^ -«-i o. a .. 1m L. >-. CI. H O 0 V C 0 0 0 «/^ 0 0 0 £i 1 C a. u ^ C V) 0 0 r~ 0 in 0 p o eA 0 1 ^ o F2 .:i: C c "*" 0 0 0 '^' d u •*•> CQ T m m •^ en ro ro Tt o as H H -*^ H £0 oa O w* c *^" • c en tf9 o lU 3 c DX) 1 1 t 1 1 1 1 1 1 k. H tc: ^ (L> 0) u O R u a. c 0 0 0 >n 0 0 0 o >n lU R c »n 0 C 00 0 m d Z 0 sC VO 0 VC 0 t^ VC •o 1/1 3 0 OJ) R > 0 3 0 -p > V3 0 C £0 0" re 5 0 3 3 o C e/3 C/5 R > "R R u 0 ~ 3 "« ^ Cti ca 3 b E u 1:5 < 2 ^ ^ a S 2 3 f2 d Z c c/5 fN r<-i Tf <0 0 r- 00 ON 00 155 1.6 Transportation Farmers generally carry their produce by headload from jfield to threshing floor, and from threshing floor to local markets by tractor trolley or cycle. Tractor trolleys are also used when farmers field are far from threshing floor. More than 60 per cent are carried by headload and 20-40 per cent are carried by tractor trolley. Table 6.1g depicts the transportation loss of 170.67 quintals (42.6 million K.cal.). 2. KUSDIHRA The village Kusdihra of Rohtas block is located at 24°36'30" north latitude and 83°58' east longitude. Towards west of Kusdihra is Kaimur hills and the Son canal is found in east after a few Kms. The village covers an area of 161.94 ha and has a cultivated area of 134.95 ha. The population of the village is 2200. The total number of household of the village is 150 and number of house holds of farmers are 80. The total number of tractors in the village are 8 and threshers are 40 in number. Electric pumpsets are 150 while there is only 7 diesel pumpsets. The village is approached by both metalled and unmetalled roads. Postharvest Practices As per survey it was observed that paddy covers 27.87 ha area producing 1563.90 quintals of rice, constituting the dominant crop of the village. The other important crop is wheat covering 23.42 ha of area producing to the tune of 827.40 quintals followed by munf^ covering 17.22 ha producing 64.00 quintals. The arhar and masur covers 5.62 ha 156 and 4.11 ha of area producing 110.60 and 137.00 quintals of grains respectively. Potato covers less than 2 percent of surveyed area giving 276.00 quintals of produce. The oilseeds are grown mixed with wheat and arhar (Table 6.2a). 2.1 Harvesting In Kusdihra. harvesting of crops are done in traditional manner and sickle is the only tool which aids human labour. During harvesting, spoilage of crops are due to birds, rodents, bad weather condition and insect locally called phin^a which destroys only ripe ear-heads of standing crops of paddy. The total harvesting loss is 278.74 quintals (82.33 million K.cal., Table 6.2b). 2.2 Drying Sun drying is the common practice in the village for moisture reduction before storage. After harvesting, the pulse crops are stacked up in bundles to get dry. Outer layer of bundles dries due to sun and dry air while inner layer of bundles are drying due to gas formation of green plants of pulses. This diying process is locally called ^umna. The pulse plants are never spread on floor for drying and kept atleast for a week. Drying loss in rice is 16.96 quintals followed by wheat (8.53 quintals). The rest of crops have drying loss of less than 4 per cent as depicted in table 6.2c. The total drying loss is 60.73 quintals (16.70 million K.calories). 2.3 Threshing Nowadays, even small farmers who are not in a position to own a thresher get their produce threshed by hiring the thresher from big farmers. 157 ,_ *r) PI fN t^ 00 (N (^ o o U "^ *-H r^ VD o r^ r^ rsi •sO VO fi O m ro o >:S o m o o o o n (N X. I .£ • H« o\ "O ON m ON 3 :>d c O O 00 00 c o o o o o O o o ON Tl- 00 V '^ ON o ^ o rf o «n o «r) I DX) •o VO ON H^ u <—^ (^ •^ O o t^ r^ (N 00 fo ON es VO fS Tf ai vO — vn m r~- *n ON ^•M »^m ~•5 >_o*^ w-> ^- t^ oo ^— «N r^ VO > > tn 1/) »^ •o a. RS w c u OS R >^ -w w £ e O o c oc -41^ U o. ' 3 o ^ T3 C O 0) o E2 u U o r^ Os 00 «n (N •^ o o u ^D Tf o Tl- -^ — — o u BO a. 1 1 J= '* \D ON «n o •*-» »« 03 m (N o 60 EA V ^ •" CQ L. C '«' < O 3 X < ;.. lU •fcrf J= u r^ (N rN 00 (N < -a c 3 es Vi o •4-* ^ "^ TS o j= CI. so ;^ t-H Rl 3 w aj U •i^ u c ID C4 Vi U5 O 5 tiO 3 1 o O U) 5 2 < 11 p X — > • (LI •^ o > es Z -w 3 ,o o C/3 (N r^ TT •n VO r^ 00 . C/D " 158 o O o O O o o o o O fO ^p^ Tf 00 00 IT) •* r- 00 rt fO «o ^ R C^ o O 00 so 00 m r- NO r^ U o 00 —H •* m ON o ON •^ m •^ m m 00 r- '* r^ Tt OO Tt -" fo Lii (N 00 ON r~- 1—'*1 'r-^H o m ^« o m o Tt OS -— ON ON •5 o O^ s c 1 00 £ CS CO 03 Si CO o c 1 c CQ C3 9i u 1 S DC p .:^ • • c "c u f2 1 3 o s: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ^^ E (J f I. t O B o -o 1 DC S OS pf— c "« o o O o o o o o o 'Z 3 o o o o o o o o o -«-l acs (/5 od od od od od od do od od Q S •T3 r" "o >. u ^ t/3 3 O > c 3 K5 T3 > en o -^- ^ o >. >. 3 « CC o OJ c 1) CO C/5 > 15 o 3 bC c« 3 •*-i r-" ^ 3 ^ -*—O • 5 2 < 1/3 ^ 2 S 3 ^ P a. in GI OJ d o • 3 Tt o c« (N r*^ >n •d r- 00 ON C/5 159 o o>oooooo 13 ^ or-~oooovs£»fn r<^ O »n ID "^ O OS t^ o o En o R O rs i. I JS ON • •• ON •a ON i» 3 O^ 0^or^00^^00^ 00 (*J ^ 00 "TJ- >n r^ o o O ^ ...... 00 § ^ o^oo — oom ri © ON a I bn V) r- V ON Hi«^ En ON ~ M > O «\ o s JS es O En c Q^ C R 1 V o QQ f2 S 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 o • • (U _c CQ e '>. IM•^ 1 R >u . u Q Q «^ 5 O o Q£ bD R 'fcrf o u C o ooooooo o ooooooo R u (LI -<-> o o" o o" o o o o V3 (U V o ooooooo V3 Q a. 2 o O 01 > 3 -a (/5 a. •^ •— is o (LI • O i~ o 3 O C/3 — The respective percentages of crops threshed by threshers are : wheat 92.30 per cent, masiir 65.00 per cent and mustard 72.50 per cent. Threshing of paddy (85.50 per cent) is done with the help of tractor trampling. The crops like mun^, arhar and /// are completely threshed by hand beating with sticks. According to table 6.2d threshing losses in the village is 82.74 quintals (23.93 million K.cal.). 2.4 Winnowing Winnowing of crops are generally carried out manually except little percentages of few crops, which are winnowed by power operated winnowers. Below 40 per cent of crops are winnowed by power winnower. Manual winnowing of crops are done when stream of natural air is strong or with hand operated fans from elevated place by supa or dalia. The winnowing loss is more in paddy (19.55 quintals)and wheat (9.10 quintal). The remaining crops have less than 2 quintal loss. Table 6.2e depicts a loss of 64.09 quintals (21.62 millions K.cal.). 2.5 Storage In Kusdihra, method of storing crops are conventional and preventive measures to safeguard crops are peculiar. In arhar, mung and masur farmers mix kerosene oil before storing and store than in kacchi kothi. Some fanners put gamaxine in wheat and store them for sometime and then sell it. Kacchi kothis, cemented rooms and use of jute bags are prevalent. Pulses are mainly stored in kacchi kothi. Except wheat, more than 70 per cent of crops are stored in kacchi kothi. Wheat and potato are kept in cemented rooms, according to table 6.2f the storage losses are 140.93 quintals (41.25 million K.calories). 161 W-) VO O o ^^ OS VO 00 o 00 1 00 OS 09 "« r^ J2 US w OS o V OS > u Q o o o o ^ *> •a V-) ro w-i rt o OJ c >> 1 1 • •o es O OS rN •n (N M -w PQ ^ •o t^ ON VO r- 09 o 60 VO o c 0£ u-i 1 C8 B oo E. 1 Is a. Ml o •• La o F5 o (LI O o O OQ • cM (^ (LI "« o o o o o &. 3 o o o vi o 5(U C >o 1 1 d d d r-" d 1/2 o o "~ (N o (U 5 (U ^3 'o 3 (D O > c 3 (U t/3 es > U9 •*—< OJ o OJ S 5 (/3 TS CC C/5 > «rf 3 so 3 3 U 5 < 3 2 2 H on ^ (Ll O k. 3 • O in fN r'^ Tf W-) VO r~- oo tn 162 O o >n O O o o W~) ^ "« (/3 3 O DXI > 5 *o > I/) CA 4^ « >. C 00 ^ CC 3 CQ CO 3 3 3 5 2 < 1 2 H C/5 f2 d o 3 Z O C/5 "" rvj r^ Tj- m o r--" 163 ^_^ O o «n o O O o o o >n "R «n o "O o •^ ON ^—> —• o "O O u ^ rs t^ u-> r-- "* t> VO c^ OS t^ '^ »—1 '^ (N t^ VO r- m as OS TT ^' -^ o 00 ^^ ,_ t^ O OS O OS r<^ o o r> a ON 00 »n •T) ^— "^ m (N OS OS a\ o ^ _ -* • o oo (N t^ (N m o O vo o (N 00 o rsi 1 OS OS T3 OS •5 C Of) 3 3 O O •*-• ;^ 00 1 1 1 1 1 1 OS 0) 1 DA w 0) V R en ^ c o OS — OS O O £3 -S > «> >^ k> 0^3 (^ en •a OS c c = o >n o o • o o « R , , , , o en DXI OS 1 o o 3 1 C R tN (N s -^ »n r- 'p. R O 1 C/3 u S "JD ^ ^ ^p E2 • • o o R •w en x: D£ 0) *-• R • 1 1 • 1 1 1 1 1 R en 3 R C C ' ,c c« 3 O o v-i o 13 dj en o o a. 1 1 1 1 , , 1 3 R o O o f<^ •^rf ^ .a fN ro p u 3 'u u en O Q J= R O o o o O o o *^ >/-) o o o O o o o "O o o o o OS o «o o 1 •^- r- 'O o 00 — o r~- o >. e/1 3 O 0X1 R > 3 -a en > en •^^ o -•-» o (U S is to 5 en > "R « 3 J3 CenS 3 ^4—t o 3 < C/3 w 2 H E2 OJ d 3 o C/D fN m Tt «0 ^O r^ 00 Ov C/2 164 o o «o o o o O o o o o ^ o o a ,«_^ — (N >n ^ ^- 00 VO (N O t^ t^ (N ON (N O O 1 u •n ro •n o r^ o • ON g oi r^ O (N ON "5 d d d d d ON s 1 a OO ON 1 o o o o 1^ iS -J ON o o o o o ON z: o d d 1 d 1 1 1 1 >-. 3 CS (N (N (N ^ « Cfi BQ U DC c o • JZ « so 1 o « 1 •« o n. O 0) o o O o O o o O o .:<: c Q. u O U O ^ o o o o o o o C o o d d d d d 1 d cs o o u ^ >- C8 o -p > in VI p -t^ j^ o >. >> C 50 k- ^ ta ^ (U m^m w r^ CC CC HJ in t« re es re ^ 3 > B 4^ 3 u 5 F c^ < £1 n d r>-' 00 OS 165 2.6 Transportation The produce is mainly transported by head load, and to local markets by tractor trolley and bullock carts. More than 50 per cent are carried by head load. 30-40 per cent by tractor trolley and 10-20 per cent by bullock carts. Table 6.2g depicts the transportation loss to be 45.47 quintals (12.54 million K.calories). 3. PAKRI The village Pakri of Rajpur block is situated at 25°5' north latitude and 84°24' east longitude. It is 12 Km from the nearest town Nasriganj. Son canal flows in the east of the Rajpur block. The village Pakri has 1446 population which extends over 226.22 ha of area. The total number of households in the village are 144 and households of farmers are 80. Pakri has 198.14 ha of cultivated area. The total number of tractor, threshers and diesel pumpsets are 3, 10 and 12 respectively. The village is approached by metalled road. Postharvest Practices Like other villages postharvest practices in this village is also partially mechanised and partially traditional. Majority of them belong to medium to low category of farmers with a few having landholding of more than 10 ha. During kharif season only paddy is cultivated is cultivated while during rabi season other crops are also grown. Therefore rice covers 51.03 per cent of the total cultivated area followed by wheat 41.02 per cent, wa.sur 4.13 per cent. The other crops such as barley peas, gram, mustard, potato cover less than 2 per cent area (table 6.3a). 166 2 E 00 ON o V — o Ov O ON od in — >:2: — CO o o o ON ON 0« c o o NO DX) o o o 60 c c B t— — O u ro fN — ro ON o o OO ON o o O t^ ^ c<-) x: rf — o C3 c« 0. w-1 o so (U O ro NO r- '* O >n NO 00 e8 NO ^ ^ S ro NO 00 ro ON (U > o >1 ^ c re (U 3 Si c •, ' c« en a x: CQ es ec 3 •;= eo o v> OXI CO O S a. 3 5 ^ S O T3 ~ OJ o > w o Z 3 o 1/5 — rsi NO OO C/5 f2 m «n C/3 167 3.1 Harvesting Manual harvesting of all the crops is done with the help of sickle and potato digger. Harvesting loss of two main crops i.e. rice and wheat is 58.13 per cent and 30.24 per cent respectively. Potato has harvesting loss of 8.08 per cent while other crops record less than 2 percent. Table 6.3b records harvesting loss to be 268.70 quintals (87.42 million K.calories). 3.2 Drying All crops are sundried to reduce the moisture level in the field and on the threshing floor as per convenience of the farmers. Drying loss recorded in rice is 57.59 per cent, in wheat 31.53 per cent and in potato 9.15 per cent. The total drying loss is found to be 63.94 quintals (20.64 millions K.calories. Table 6.3c). 3.3 Threshing Very few farmers own threshers and tractors. Farmers hire them for threshing of crops. Wheat and barley are threshed by threshers completely and paddy by tractor treading. All pulses and oilseeds are threshed by bullock treading or by hand beating as the farmers cannot afford to hire threshers for all crops. The total threshing loss is 112.45 quintals 38.84 millions K.calories, table 6.3d). 3.4 Winnowing In Pakri winnowing of all the crops is done manually except rice and wheat. The percentages of rice of wheat that are mechanically winnowed are 34.50 per cent and 30.00 per cent respectively. According 168 O o O o o O o O o 00 _ o (N ^ o^ o o >n r^ ON 0\ es — Cs K^ o r^ fN ^—* r- ^O Os u 00 v^ l> yr^ so >^ c • • ^ 09 "« '5. D£ u CI. •fi Si ^C 'c 83 O •• o •^^ cs H gq M ce f 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 o 0) o >• u m s .c s ao o c 3 a> D£ -a CS _a (U c R o O o o o o o o 3 O O u o o o o o o e« e o o o o o O u d d (L) 5 0) o o o o o o o o ^ (U 2 u 3 9i O > X ;- 3 •p > to "« O o o o o o o o o r- u O 00 (N ON >n o r<^ r- "^ 00 ON vO «n «n m "* (N fN as o ^ ^ VO m "^ oo Tt VO *r\ «ri t- r4 Tt ts oo CO vo o o o M o M (N o I ON Im o\ U ON ti S^ (N 00 r^ m ON rt m r-- •^ ^ _« o CQ 'iZ 1 1 1 1 , 1 , 1 H BoQ S•• c u ^ on 4^ •4-' e«a —c >> to *- >i U JC U Q c -2 O « O «> <«^ OX) 3 c> R O o o o O o o o ^«lu^ c U O VI o o o o o o o u 63 o o o o o o o o o Q O o o o o o o o o a. 1/3 (U u 2 (U t/3 3 0) >^ O 0£ > u 3 "O CO w •^' >, ^ o s^ C cC v 3 •h^ OJ ^* Q ID (U C/1 t/3 £ [A rt > R ^ O ^ ^ rt ce eo 3 •*—' ^ •fcj o 3 B ^ O C/3 E2 u 5 s S CU (U d o Z 3 c/i """ fN r^ Tt' «n o r--" 00 o 170 o o o o o o o o ^ o o o o (N — rj 00 >n 00 en o ai > a: ^ 3 T3 t/3 C o « «J ^ b « « .« 3 E u oi ^ OQ S CL. O 2 c p 3 z O — fN m •^ in d r-- 171 O o o o o o O o o «n o so t^ «n o "O 00 rr 13 >o 00 r^ ''t (N 00 o so •^ f^ OS m ON r^ 00 r- OS •^ 5J in ON ^ (N e/3 3 O DXI ID R > 3: 3 e/j •a > en •*-» >. ^ C CQ o d k- Z 3 O 1/3 ^~" fN fo •^ »n sD r~- OO 172 to table 6.3e, winnowing loss is 71.88 quintals (24.83 million K.calories). 3.5 Storage In Pakri, earthen container and jute bags are more widely used than cemented rooms for storage purpose. Metallic bins and underground storage structures are not used. Very little surplus of foodgrains are available with farmers. They store the crop for self consumption and for seed purpose. Almost all crops are stored in earthen containers and their percentages are - mustard 100.00 per cent, rice 55.50 per cent, masur 50.00 per cent, gram 42.80 per cent, peas 35.20 per cent and barley 30.00 per cent. Cemented rooms store potato (79.50 per cent), barley (70.00 per cent) and wheat (60.00 per cent). Pulses are stored in jute bags mixed with wheat straw and their percentages are: Peas 64.80 per cent, gram 57.20 per cent, masur 50.00 per cent wheat 20.75 per cent and potato 20.50 per cent. The total storage loss recorded to be 139.31 quintals (45.37 million K. calories, table 6.3f). 3.6 Transportation All the crops are mainly carried from their field to their respective threshing floor by head load only. Only wheat and rice which are produced on large scale are transported by tractor trolley. More than 60 per cent are carried b\ head load and 30-40 per cent by tractor tolley. The transportaiton loss is 45.99 quintals 14.50 million K.calories, table 6.3g. 173 o o O O o o o o o 00 •n Tf OO ro o o 00 o OO f*5 • vo Tt S r~- rt OO ^^ O ON OO o r- r-» o ^^ r^ -^ "^ 00 '* ^^ o VO "^ r^ o rt O o o o o (^ m o I L. OS ON j;^ ON a e 0. o 0) •^ M « OO bX) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ON e« I M u &> es •HH 0) M ^ C O ON > cn ON O o ;3 ts ::• ^ 3 "O (U D. aa O o o o >. •R^ As V oo o o «n 1 1 1 tf »3 UD ^' o o 1 ON _C "O c '^ r^ r- O. C8 O .:£ V O. U S O C/3 o S i- f2 pa«H (^ __ QQ • • R o 01 o D£ •^-' vi Ql) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 CQ R so '^ii L. •J s .C C o cV >n o o o o 3 9i 00 «n -w bD , o Ok 3 « 1 o 1 1-5 XJ d VO drvj fN in in JZ V3 U o _ OJ i/i b< o in o o O o o o o 00 o ^ e , in o" o d in o « o 3 >^ O 01 ID > 3 •p > en •4-* >. ;-i o >. C 3 (U J KJ CO 3 o o 3 ^*^ E 5 ^ DQ a. o Cl U S ^ d o 3 Z O v5 — «N m Tt in vd r-' od C/5 174 o o O c o o o o o w^ CQ o Tl- 00 r- o o — o o •n U rN 00 UO CO ON —« SoB o >^ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 C >t cs s OQ 0"59 U re c o to •** OS c -«•> L. u >M a. O o 0) o O o o u ^^ o o o 0o9 . es 1 1 1 E2 c o o 1 1 d H H r<^ m Tf * o 00 o 9i 3 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 13 ai 5 es 03 e ^ V u U re o o o o o Q I/: a. o o ^ o cs u 3 -p > CA -4-J >% ^' re c >. e Z O w5 ^•^ (N o "* lO vo r~^ oo C/0 175 B O 08 t: o Q, «C 0) I n o C/3 w • M a ^ g H B ta ffi ?• O. J: iH o •a ft 3 lO u 1 u on •H g oo. 5 lij u o i-t •aCS J= JC H CQ c Q vO (N S3§BJU30J3 SELECTION OF SAMPLE VILLAGES, FOOD LOSSES IN VILLAGES OF LOW PRODUCTIVITY REGION According to Shafi's method of measurement of agricultural productivity the districts of Bhabua and Buxar lie in the low productivity region. The area of district Bhabua is an extention of Kaimur hills range. The tract can be classified into two parts i.e. plain and plateau. The plain area consists of the alluvial soil and therefore it is fertile while the plateau areas is stony and poor in fertility. Son, Karamnasa and Durgawati rivers are the perennial sources of surface water and provide irrigaiton to major portion of the agricultural lands. In district Buxar, the entire strip of land between the river Ganga on the north and the main line of the Eastern railway on the south, is a low lying alluvial plain. The Ganga and its tributaries are the main sources of irrigaiton in the district. The artificial sources of irrigation includes canal, ahars, pynes and wells. Main crops of the low productivity region are paddy, wheat, barley, gram and other pulses. The paddy foims the greater proportion of the crops grown in the area. Three villages have been selected to assess the food losses occuring at various levels of postharvest technologies in the low productivity region. SAMPLED VILLAGES 1) DEOHALIA The village Deohalia of Ramgarh block is situated at 25° 16' north latitude and 83°34' east longitude. It is 8 km towards west from winnowing of crops with the help of fan ^ h. Rat hole in a threshing floor Kacchi kothi for storage of grains Cemented kothi for storage of grains storage structure locally knovm as khop Oldman watching a harvested field 177 '«' T3 S oo (N r^ -"^ r-- o ON — r^ a \D 00 vO O ^ 1-^ oo Tt o > r«"i r-- 00 ri (N m fN 00 "*' a u^ rf m (N fN 00 o o o fN I cs ON ON o ON Q B 00 O O (N fN fN VO •* 00 DC o o OS ^ 'E. • 3 o c o rl- ON fN •^ m ^> o «n o ^ la: u o m Ov fN "O -* o Tf o o 0) Tf fN fN m Tt ^ '-6 r^ fN d • « Tt f'^ o ^"^ CQ 3 V CO o ^^ _ m f^ (N r^ o o r^ o R ri (N fN '*_ fN o fN VO 00 — f^ '*" ^' fN 00 TJ-' fN (U ffi d b> Q > 2 3 -a o f M p •*-> >, • c3 O • u ^1^ o o CS k. ^ 3 3 ,o O fN rn t^ 00 ON' C/3 t/5 <*' •o vd H on 178 block Ramgarh. Durgawati nadi (stream) lies in the south at a distance of 4 Kms. It is approached by both metalled and unmetalled roads. The village extends over 361.58 ha and has a population of 5000. The village has 321.18 ha of cultivated area. The total number of households in the village are 500 including 100 households of farmers. The total number of tractor is 10 and threshers are 50 in number. There are 40 electric operated private tubewells including one government tubewell. Postharvest Practices In Deohalia (table 7.1a) rice ranks first covering an area of 44.00 per cent to the total harvested area of surveyed households; wheat ranks second having an area of 32.99 per cent and other crops in descending order are masur (6.01 per cent) gram (4.54 per cent) mustard (3.40 per cent), barley (3.22 per cent), sugarcane (2.34 per cent), potato (2.05 per cent) and peas (1.45 per cent). 1.1 Harvesting Sickle is commonly used during harvesting. Small spade and scythe are also in practice to harvest few crops. Rice records the maximum harvesting loss of 50.80 per cent followed by wheat (34.37 per cent) potato (4.63 per cent) and sugarcane (3.21 per cent). Among pulses losses are less than 3 per cent. Total harvesting loss is 543.73 quintals which is equivalent to 178.11 million Kcal. (Table 7. lb) at village level. 179 ir o o O O o O o c *n o r^ ON CO J: -a c K5 u c e c SO c PP R 'Q. bX) a. u c c 'c o E2 R — .E > I. R so « > c 3 U IT an R -4-< c o o o o o o o c c c o o o o o o o o re c d d d d d d u o o o d o o o d 1/3 c o Q o (U O R > >1 ;- lU C/2 t/3 C/i CC re o 5) cc re > •— dj == =' c ;5 ^ re ^ ^ if 5 F2 v:) CQ O a- CO o z — (^1 r- 00 in c/5 180 1.2 Drying After harvesting all crops are sundried for reduction of moisture before threshing and storage which results in losses due to birds, rats and sometimes due to thunderstorms. The drying losses are 124.17 quintals (41.23 million Kcal, Table 7.1c). 1.3 Threshing In Deohalia, power or diesel threshers are more widely used than traditional methods like beating with sticks or bullock trampling of crops. If farmers do not own threshers or tractor they hire them for the required operation. According to table 7.Id, all the wheat is threshed by power thresher. The crops like barley, sugarcane, masur, mustard, gram and peas are threshed by power thresher and their percentage are 65.00, 60.00, 54.00, 44.75, 34.75 and 24.25 respectively. The traditional method i.e. beating the crops with sticks is also common in the village. Gram (20.50 per cent), peas (34.45 per cent), masur (10.50 per cent), mustard (55.25 per cent) are threshed by the method. The total threshing loss recorded is 221.41 quintals (75.25 million Kcal.) at village level. 1.4 Winnowing In Deohalia, more than 80 per cent of crops are manually winnowed by hand operated fans and less than 20 per cent are mechanically winnowed with the help of power operated winnower. The total recorded loss is 74.69 quintals (26.00 million Kcal, Table 7.1e). 181 o o O O o O O o o iri o vO Tj- O >r) OS r- >o t^ f<^ .— v£) fN rs rr vC " 3 0) O T3 bx) 5 •a t« •^- >i •^^ re o >i •4—t •^ c re (U c 3 ^—1 tu eU o u c 5 Z o c/5 "" (N r'-! '^ m d r- 00 C/3 182 o o o o O O O o o M o .— fN "^ o «n — oo — v© •^ 00 —" V£) o o m r- t^ rr "« '* •rf O VO r- 00 M-M Tt t^ ^ u (N >o in »— o '^ o «n — "^ fS (N o •<* oo ^— •rt- 00 00 c Z 3 O c/5 ^"" r-i m "* yr\ vO K 00 00 183 o O o O o o o o *n «o Tt- o O o •^ r^i vO o r^ o o ^ (N VO vO (N ff> 5J r'l •^ Tf (N >n •^ fs vO o O (N oo fN (N «o r^ m o O (N o :ad o o o « o o ^ ON Ov o ON Q f^i «n •* 00 00 r«^ ON O '^ 1 C5 p -kd c s o o O o o o o 5 CJ 0) c o o ID >1 o R > 3 T3 CO •o (L) > ;<: •i-^ >> ^ >. >. Q. CQ OJ p 3 =: (U ^M O OJ dJ CO CO SC/3 R > •4-1 5 5 3 U 5 $ S on CQ £1 d p 3 O "™ fN c/5 r^" •^' >o ^o r-- 00 184 1.5 Storage Traditional method of storage is prevalent in Deohalia. Storage structures include earthen containers, jute bags and cemented rooms. The underground storage structure is not used while metallic bins are least in practice. Earthen containers store most of the crops and their percentages in descending order are sugarcane (80.00 per cent), mustard (50.00 per cent), masur (30.50 per cent) rice (25.60 per cent), barley (20.25 per cent) gram (18.20 per cent) wheat (15.50 per cent) and peas (15.25 pe rcent). Crops are stored in cemented rooms also locally known as pakki kothi. Jute bags also help in storing of crops mixed with wheat straw. The foodgrains stored in such bags include gram (60.50 per cent), barley (65.25 per cent), wheat (54.00 per cent) and peas (50.00 per cent). The total storage loss is 330.48 quintals which is equivalent to 110.29 million Kcal (Table 7. If) at village level. 1.6 Transportation In Deohalia, crops are mainly carried either by headload. tractor trolleys or bullock carts. Farmers of this village either sell their produce themselves in mandis or to the local markets. Less than 40 per cent are carried by head load and more than 60 per cent are transported by tractor trolleys. The transportation loss recorded is equal to 70.65 quintals (23.85 million Kcal, Table 7.1g). 2) RAMPUR The village Rampur of block Kesath, situated at 25''27' north latitude and 84«13' east longitude, is 15 kms from its nearest town 185 o o o o O o o C o o o cs >n r- rf vO o >n 00 00 r^ o 0\ vD ON ON — CN o 00 — (N ON o o o o o o CN) — CTN ON c •o ON a c O 3 O ~J2 0J3 « OO em u S- WD ON 4) 0) ss r- J- "a u ON > 2 ^ c o ON O P ^ K3 0) QQ o O o O O o OJ ^ OX) = = .s o o O o an o o o Tj- — •^ o o *^ m a. c o S a. — . *• -4-1 C/2 p o H w .. c« o o OJ <«-l 1/1 o ON es £0 - u c 5 = 3 o o in o o o o 3 -<-• aj en o o »n o = n OJ o O o >n o »n o O x: « 3 S -2 c t/2 I/; 1/3 > re o CO -P x: 4-1 O y5 (N r--; >n NO 00 ON c/: 186 o o o O o o O o o o M cs >o m o -^ o «o ON (N 00 00 o u fN r^ >n VO o ON Tt fN m r^ *S O o r- •^ r^i o r- 00 fN ON NO ^' o M rsi O w-i "* •^ NO >n 1^ '^ — o tN r- o f«^ O pJ o SS o i™« >n >ri «n Ov m m rs NO V) fN ^^_^ o "^ 1 es r^ rr t-- •^ —' "o ^" r-~ ^ •^ ^o ON JS s VO — oo o o o o ^~ o o o ON o t^ »- ON Q c 1 00 ON 1/3 O O «n o o o ON o O VD O r~ >o ON > •*' •o ••^ u «0 O^ O rf ^ 1 1 1 ' ^" B >> 3 R ^-^ f^ — ^^ PQ CQ ~ re U3 u D£ c >. c o r-^ E M 1 S r> a L. La ?^ C 1 ** O o 0) o o o O o in o o o c c U rf O O fN o a. o o E2 "o o o o o c «n \D ^ »n in ^ r- 00 NO -4-1 H 5 o so c ^^" 3 o , , , 1 , , 1 , 1 "O bc 9S Hu s 1 a; U "p u re 0. o O u-i o »n o o o en rs o m in 93 t3 o o r-- o d) T) ' li-1 w-i o oo rf m O Q Q« d TS ^™ X m rs) m m m rsl fN r-^ c 3 V o on OJ > C R re CJ -1- v m >i » J c5 o >. >% Q. -4—t in 3 > O CO in "R re o CO r- d re > tm OJ 3 o 3 2 a. on f2 u £1 ILI d p c« (N r*", Tf >o •o K od . c — 187 Dumraon. From national highway the village is approached by metalled road of 1 Km. The village stretches over 218.93 ha with a cultivated area of 212.94 ha. The village population is 1532. The total number of households of farmers is 70. The number of tractors and threshers is 5 and 30 respectively. There are 35 electrical pumpsets and 15 diesel pumpsets. Postharvest Practices Most of the farmers in this village follow postharvest practices in a traditional manner. From table 7.2a it could be seen that maximum cultivated area is occupied by rce which is followed by wheat, sugarcane, masur, arhar, gram and potato. 2.1 Harvesting All crops are traditionally being harvested by sickle and pulses are hand picked. Sugarcane contributes 30.02 per cent of the harvesting loss to the total loss followed by paddy (26.97 per cent) wheat (25.16 per cent), potato (13.63 per cent). The remaining crops contribute less than 2 per cent harvesting loss. The total harvesting loss is 298.71 quintals which is equivalent to 69.61 million Kcal. (Table 7.2b). 2.2 Drying After harvesting, the harvested crops are left in the yields for sundrying for about one week and uprooted pulse plants are dried in 188 o o m m o r- ON — 00 00 >9: — 00 r- — o o o I 3 ON E O O 00 o o o o O O o o vo ON ON ON CUD -o o I fN O (N c C p ^ "O e o f2 ow uo o O^ m ON ON o s ^ o Ti- sD "* NO d 0. o M 00 — ON oo o CC en Si o -* ON Q X d fN NO fN ON > ^ cc -a o O o c H ,^C^C J= CC CO 3 o 0) E [/3 OS a> cc 'J I-™ U) •^-> 3 3 C3 n • ^ p o O bJD C/5 ^ o s ^:^ ^ Q. cs (U >, o o o Z u R > — (N c r-^ >/~i O r-- 00 3 ^ 189 O o o O O o o o NO __ O Tt rn VO o o ON r~ o ~" ce m Tf oo O (N m SO m rsi ^" O u in ^- CO <^ r- r- ON «r^ to «*J O ;^' ^ (N Tl- as C^ r- 00 n ^- ^" o o ro 1 ^ oo va 0) 1 &X) »3 R O •^ _ ^_ o f- Ov a^ o o o 00 >• O od d ON (N O ON 3 O O X > c -a 3 re T3 > (/I c o 're re o e re re 5 60 re re > re 3 re 3 U < O :i 2 o 3 5 § CS- C/5 f= cI . OJ c p C/} (N r'l -t' «o o r- 00 190 O >o O o o O O u-i IT) m 00 o o Tt r- ro r^ ^a (N o Tt 00 o o (N "^ M vO ro (N ^ ^ vO Tf r^ f^ •o OS •* >n •^ ^' '* o o o 3 E« ON o OS a. ON E >o ^M O 00 OO r- ON OO OS o /^V r-4 ^ -* ^— eN CNl m o >o 1 • 00 O vd d '* d d d r^ ON 1 DXI ON ON EM c > u •o n CQ c M C3 60 en 1 C '5- u cs ^* p. MM 1 O) R p ^ CQ 1 1 1 1 o • • DX) -«-l OJ D£ C f oa -^i c >-> U a 3 3 oa o "C5 cu •-I ex) -4-* a U o o o o o o o c 0) o o o o o o c5 E/3 u e8 o d d d d d d t/5 Q o o o o o o o o a. "73 O 3 V >> O DX) X > 3 •a to (U C/3 -p > •^' • c5 o >. >, c (U w Z3 •4—' o E t/2 R r™ -4^ s 3 o 3 E 5 < ^ 2 f2 dj d p 3 O c/5 — fN f^. Tf" 7.2c the total drying loss is 76.69 quintals (24.29 million Kcal) at village level. 2.3 Threshing The crops after field drying are collected at one place and threshing is accomplished by thresher, tractor and animal treading or hand beating. During threshing operation, the dried plants are put inside the thresher, grain and stalks are separated and collected at different outlets. Pulses and oilseeds are manually threshed and their percentages are : arhar (100 per cent), mustard (75.25 per cent), gram (60.45 per cent), masur (22.50 per cent) and rice (14.25 per cent). Nearly all the wheat is threshed by power thresher followed by masur (77.50 per cent) gram (25.50 per cent) and mustard (24.75 per cent). Threshing of rice is done by tractor treading. The total threshing loss is 110.41 quintal (28.20 million Kcal., Table 7.2d). The sugarcane is crushed in crushers, operated by pair of bullock. The juice is then boiled in karah (pan) using bagasse as fuel for 2-3 hours. The concentrated juice is allowed to cool down in cans and moulds for solidification. 2.4 Winnowing Winnowing of grains helps in separating the dust and non-edible lighter parts using tilted baskets and dropping the grains from height l<12 o o o O o o O o o 'It fN ^ o\ ;^' (N o >n — (N 00 1-^ r^ — >n 00 ri 1/1 o o O o NJ fN I 3 ^^ _^ ^ ON & r^ (N CN o vO vo OS ^^ m •* VO •^ r-i Tt; TT ON ON s a a^ d r-^ '^ d d d O 00 ON 0) m I « M ON -^ O ON o o o o >o oL. 3 1) O > 3 t/2 re T" > 1/3 CC ^ 3 *-* c CD 5 "« cC o C/3 C/2 > CC 3 3 3 u 5 < C>0 1 a 2 C/5 d CJ 3 Z O c/5 ^•~ r-1 r*-) '^" «o d r- 193 O >n o O o o in \« o r-- -O o o Ov vD TT \C rsi m fS C3 vC o VD '^ Tt — — 00 Tf 00 00 O r^ •* ^ ^ fN o o o u 1 3 ^ ON E 93 oc in o in O r- ON m o /—V vO o (N o ^-^ ^- o t- ^J 00 't o o "53 JO t/2 3 O DC OS 3 V (L> > >i C(/ : -^^ ^ 5 >, u re 3 c r S/2 (/I > "« 5 u o -T- cc Cti 3 -«-> ^" - 3 £ U < ^ O ]S 5 S ^ £! (U o 2 3 I/: oi r^. •*' in vd o 1Q4 against natural wind or by air blowing by mechanical fan. The total winnowing loss by both the methods, manual as well as mechanical, is 49.73 quintals which is equivalent to 17.19 million Kcal, according to table 7.2e. 2.5 Storage The farmers of this village still practice the traditional method of storage of foodgrains. The conventional storage structures do not provide adequate protection to the stored grains damaged by moisture, insects, rodents and vagaries of weather. In Rampur, earthen containers are still chief means of storage. According to table 7.2f, earthen containers store 80.50 per cent arhar followed by sugarcane (jaggery) 80.00 per cent, mustard 70.95 per cent, rice 45.35 per cent, wheat 30.45 per cent gram 25.50 per cent and masur 14.30 per cent. Crops are also stored in jute bags with wheat straw and their percentages are - masur 80.20 per cent, gram 74.50 per cent, wheat 40.25 per cent, mustard 25.50 per cent, rice 25.10 per cent and arhar 19.50 per cent. Potatoes are stored in cemented rooms; they are spread on floor to avoid rotting of crop. According to table 7.2f, the total storage loss is found to be 226.47 quintals (55.73 million Kcal.). 2.6 Transportation According to table 7.2g, produce are transported by headload. tractor trolleys and bulock carts. More than 60 per cent of crops are carried by tractor-trolleys, below 25 per cent by bullock carts and 10-30 per cent by headload. The total transporting loss is 35.29 quintals (8.17 million Kcal., Table 7.2g). 195 o >o O O o c o o •n SO o CX3 in in r- 00 O^ o «n r- r~ /••v ^M o •/^ oo «N •^ v^ vO •rf o •^ o a r- o fN r^ o c d r-^ CO • m I 3 O^ £ 3 3 C l- en oc 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 CN « a I 3 O 1— •*< 0 ^ as re .£ •o •*^ o 3 3 m o -«-• 3 r^ R ei n >n V 3 1 c« W-1 ' 1 ' ir, r'l ' u u S is cs 3 « -ow 3 C/2 u CO o o o -p >• tf3 -4—' re o re o re ir. re > <•>« o 3 '^J re o 3 U 5 < 2 ^ • o Z c c/5 "~ rN r"-, "* >n NC r-^ 00 IQfi o in o o O o O- o >o VO o t^ oo (N Tf »—1 «o (N cc V3 I U 00 OJD o ^ u lO >n O o o «oN o OS i2 -J >o o «o m OS £ ** 1 1 00 •*' — ^ F* •n »—" >•? >, 3 CS (N fdN d aj Z 3 C c/j "~ fN fl rf 3) BADITAKIA The village Baditakia of block Chainpur is situated at 25°2' north latitude and 83''29'30" east longitude. This village is 3 Kms away from Chainpur block. South of this village lies Kaimur hills and small stream known as Kohira nadi originates from this hill. This village extends over 134.95 ha and possesses 107.96 ha of cultivated land. The population of the village is 600. The total number of households is 75 and number of household of farmers is 50. The total number of thresher is 6 and there is only one tractor available in the village. The diesel pumpsets are 30 and electric operated pumpsets are not common as there is no electricity in the village. Only rice and wheat is grown in the village. Besides, lentil and potatoes are grown solely for home consumption. Postharvest Practices Most of the harvest and post-harvest practices are wholly traditional with little or no mechanizaiton. This problem is further compounded due to the smaller size of land holdings. According to table 7.3a rice covers 50.00 per cent of the cultivated area followed by wheat (47.52 per cent). Both niasur and potato have same area of 1.24 per cent. 3.1 Harvesting Like other villages, harvesting operation in this village is also carried out manually. Harvesting loss is more in rice due to shattering of grains, bad weather and rats, followed by wheat. Rats destroy the 1P8 Tl- ^ O O O ON O O —"* Om O^S- Ov—" o o o ON •5 s o o o o o O © 00 0) 3 B a. .5 = so c cs o "5. o. s o I •a n O (N •* "* o O vi (N rj o (U _o ft- d o so c 3 -< o r-" ^ — u oa p 0) m r- r- o o O O 7.3b the harvesting loss is 107.83 quintals (35.62 million Kcal.) at village level. 3.2 Drying Sundrying is normally adopted for drying of crops and this is found to be the most economical way of drying under farmer's condition. The drying loss is found to be 39.73 quintals (13.37 million Kcal., Table 7.3c). 3.3 Threshing The threshing of paddy is done by manual beating of the harvested crop over the solid surface or platform. Treading with cattle and tractor is also practised. Threshing of masur is done by beating the harvested crops with hard wooden poles after sun drying. The wheat is threshed by both bullock treading and power thresher, which are available on hire basis. Table 7.3d depicts threshing losses to the volume of 80.19 quintals (27.70 million Kcal.). 3.4 Winnowing The cleaning of the threshed grains is carried out manually by winnowing in air by supa made of bamboo strips. The winnowing loss is 10.17 quintal which is equivalent to 3.51 million Kcal. (Table 7.3e). 3.5 Storage Regarding storage practices more than 65 per cent of produce are stored in earthen containers. Excluding potato, less than 30 per cent 2nn o o o O O o TT o o r-j O vO 00 t^ o R ON — r^ O ro X eN U (N OQ SB CB 00 o ON J I rs (L> d _o Z 3 O on fN r-) '^" C/5 201 o o O O M Tf MM >/~i oo (N r- «n ON «>« c> rf t^ f". o 00 u — ro m o o ro "^ (N ^- (N ON t- ^ — oo — r^ fn o o o CM I a> ^ ON ON a , CO 00 rt- "* fO y^ f^, rn o (N o\ r- 1 OO r'^ rvi C m a; Q o ON OX) I c« »3 r- ^Hl t/oi; ON :T" VI ON ^ *- o u -] s •o fo c. c • cf^ « ir- C3 V5 1 X e a. a U "re p 1 >^. u ^ 03 o u 1 1 1 1 H • • bX) dj O 6D •4—' C c CQ >> U £0 Q 3 3 o -o OS u bxi u R c O o o o ~ o o o o « u ^^ o o d d in c o o o o (U — —~ •~ a. c/: — (U 5 T3 O c/l =3 O bX) X -a 3 > V2 v; '4—' ^ o >. ^M c cd 3 u , Z 3 O c/i rM r*^. -:r C/5 202 O o O 00 o o 00 ON *n yn r- o 13 m r^ o '^ 00 00 "^ (N ON o\ ^' vO fO so o es O o 12 ^ o 1 F2 ON (N C CQ en *c >n •^ 1 6C < f^ 01) 3 3 R c CQ u "« m o 3 a. C o 3 1 d o — •— Q "13 >1 o bx) C3 > 5 OJ > tfS .«_< >. >, C ce 3 lU »— u c CQ cc 5 i:5 C/3 F2 lU 2 3 O c/5 — fN (^ GT) 203 o o o r^ 00 O O (^ OO '—1 oo vo -^ o t- o^ r^ ro o r4 OO O o o o ^ I es C h- -1 •5 ss CO Tt O — OO O O • 00 u v> § o o o — o 1/3 t/1 ^^ o ^ > •o ^ c 5 R <*5 CI. C so S _c « cs J= lU CO 'o- u u ^ c o .:£ tr 1 1 1 u c o c c oa o 2 50 «^ c « c 3 3 Xi i«i o es «*^ OX) 09 R o o o 3 o o o c s o" o o (A o o o (U 0. c o ex -a ~ ^ > C 3.6 Transportation Transport of the agricultural produce is carried out by self- carrying methods - head load or on the back. The total loss in transportation is 8.03 quintals (2.67 million Kcal., Table 7.3g). 205 o o O O o •^ "5 o 00 t^ f^ 00 O — Gv oo (N — CN • rr o o t^ fo 'O ;^ 0^ rsi m «n o •-> Ov ^M 00 r-^ OS o^ OS *M ••'^ o r-~ -— O in «o «s o >n vd d d (U d o Z 3 O c/J 1— o o o O o fo es o (N r^; rsi t^ ON u r- VD •^ oo «n QO r^ (N f^ «n ON t- ^ fN VO ON f^ (N "•• m V. 3 Oi O DX) > X -a = 3 > VJ •4—• ^_ o >i c. ec ^ lU "^ c es a -C CC <**« ^ -«-> B o 3 u 5 ^ ^ 00 ^ • OJ Z o C/3 — 1 1 w tW|^Mt M^ O ::::::::::::::!:::::; I 1 a 9 '2 -a r? ^^ uo o •o J ^ H ^ B I . (^ Uc e Si) o — eg CA £ c« uin a •= CO a: 00 o El EM c: o "S "5. a. ;^ 1> M C U> o x: H) H Q Q O (ZJ OQ C O V en uV «o1 u c00 > ca X in fS in — (N d S38BJU30J3tJ CONCLUSIONS In a country where agriculture is the mainstay of the population and the population is on constant increase, the amount of food required to feed these increasing millions is very difficult to achieve through increased production alone, since the population growth largely cancels the benefits of increased food production. Other means, in which prevention of postharvest losses is very important, deserve a great deal more attention then they have received. Cutting postharvest losses could, presumably add a sizeable quantity to the food supply and thus reduce the need to intensify production in the future. In foregoing chapters, the author therefore began with the hypothesis that losses in foodcrops occur at vairous stages of postharvest system. The data in this regard has been collected through field-work. Survey work revealed that in the region of Ganga-Son Divide agriculture as a whole is still a means of subsistence and is practised in traditional ways with little use of fertilizers and plant protection measures. It is reflected further, in the cropping pattern of the area which is generally subsistence oriented. Most of the postharvest practices are wholly traditional with little or no mechanization. This problem is further compounded due to the smaller size of land holdings. Survey work done on crop production suggested that harvesting is a real constraint because there is a lack of harvesting equipment. Harvesting operation involves a series of steps all done by hand. Farmers of sampled villages mainly use sickle for harvesting operation, thus this process is very labour intensive and time taking. In the study region, the small size of land holdings and the various socio-economic system do 209 not allow the use of combine harvesters. Losses during harvesting takes place due to lodging of plants, scattering of crops or over ripening of crops, rodents, locusts and birds. In legumes losses occur by pod shedding and pod dehiscence. The average loss of sampled villages varies between 4 to 7 per cent but sometimes it shoots up to 80 to 100 percent due to bad weather condition such as untimely rains, storms and frost. The crop loss due to floods during rainy season (kharif) may be as high as 50 to 100 per cent. The next agricultural operation which follows the harvesting is drying. For cleaning and drying, farmers of this region still follow the traditional practice. After harvesting, crops are left with their stalks in the same field for 3-4 days for drying under the sun. There again the harvested crops are attacked with rats, birds etc. resulting in losses of crop which are esitmated by farmers as negligible which varies between 1 to 2 per cent. Thereafter, dried crops with stalks are loaded either on labour head or on cart or tractor trolley and carried to the threshing floor and are stacked in large piles when time permits, the crops are threshed using one of the several methods. Now power or diesel thresher are increasingly in use for cereals and some legumes but traditional way of threshing are still prevalent for certain crops. This involves trampling of crops under the feet of animals or beating with stick or wooden plank. The paddy is threshed under the wheels of tractor leading to 2 to 3 per cent losses of crops. During threshing, piled stocks of crops are attacked by stray catties, birds and rats which are posing a big problem. Large amount of crops are carried by them in the hole made under the earth or under the piles of stocks. Rats do a tremendous amount of damage and it is difficult to estimate the losses as they are 210 nocturnal animal and farmers normally fail to observe them. The farmers then winnow the threshed crops mainly by traditional method by throwing the crops up into the air and letting the wind blow the chaff and then shift it to get rid of the dirt. Hand operated fans are also used. Sometimes the farmers of sampled villages also use power operated winnower. Losses are low as estimated by farmers that is 1 to 2 per cent. Once the produce is threshed, some of it is kept by the farmers for home consumption and the suplus is sold either in local market or mandi or to the broker. In both the cases the produce is stored for varying lengths of time. As far as storage is concerned, farmers hardly follow the scientific method of storage. The farmers generally use jute bags,/?i7t"c"/ kothi, kacchi kothi and underground storage for storing grains and metallic bins are not commonly used in the study region. Usually at subsistence level farm structures are built with local agricultural materials as straw, bamboo, timber, mud or bricks. The holding capacity of such structures does not normally exceed two tonnes. It should be built to have the stability and strength for holding such quantities. Farmers use kerosene oil, ashes and gamexine as preventive measures which are not very effective thus leading to large losses. The losses caused by rodents, insects, secondary infections from fungi because of changes in moisture content or secretions and excretions of pests infest these storage areas which result into the losses of upto 4 per cent. Insect and rodents not only physically consume material from the crops and reduce the weight components, but also inflict qualitative losses through degradation which encourages further biodeterioration by moulds and mites. All this reduces the hygienic quality of the foodgrain 211 and lowers the nutritive value. In case of insect infestation, the loss in quality is much greater when the food standards for the assessment of edible quality are applied. From the presentation made so far. it has been found that the farmers in this region have not so far been exposed to the modern postharvest technology and thus the postharvest system prevailing in the region of Ganga-Son Divide leads to large losses of foodgrains. However, use of modern and scientific postharvest equipments would definitely increase the total crop yield. Most of the farmers in this region are poor and cannot afford appropriate equipment to carry out farming operation efficiently. But now, due to increase in the labour cost, some of them have shown interest to adopt the modern equipment on hire basis. The farmers are trying to reduce the losses by adopting simple technologies and small changes such as timely harvesting and transporting the crop quickly to the threshing floor, use of blade cutter for harvesting lentils or threshing the produce with stationary thresher rather than by hand or by animal which could result in considerable savings. The present study despite the paucity of data has also succeeded in confirming the another hypothesis that there exist positive relationship between agricultural productivity and crop losses. The measurement of agricultural productivity- is of great importance as it not only help in locating regional imbalances in production but also suggest the methods how production or productivity can be increased to feed the growing millions. According to Shafi's productivity coefficient index. 212 the districts of the region of Ganga-Son Divide falls into three groups labelled as high, medium and low productivity region. Bhojpur belongs to high productivity region situated on the banks of the river Ganga and Son. Rohtas lies in medium productivity region and consist of two parts the plains and plateau. As the plain approaches the foot hills the soil becomes stony and poor in fertility. Buxar and Bhabua both the districts falls in low productivity region. The districts consist of plain and plateau. The plain area consist of the alluvial soil and therefore is fertile while the plateau areas are stony and poor in fertility. From the foregoing chapters on the basis of sampled villages of respective productivity regions it has been found that percentage of postharvest losses are high in high productivity region and low in low productivity region comparatively. From the foreging tables it is analysed that Bhojpur suffers the average postharvest crop losses of around 14 per cent that is 86778.65 metric tonnes are lost. The caloric losses are 332320.07 million calories and if this loss is checked then it will be possible to feed 455233 persons more annually at the rate of 2000 calories per head per day. As Rohtas found its place in medium productivity region its postharvest average losses touches around 12 per cent. The losses of crops are 62353.79 metric tonnes and 183488.72 million calories. If these losses are saved this could feed 251355 persons more per annum. Similarly percentage loss of Buxar and Bhabua claiming to be low productivity region is around 10 per cent bears the average loss of crops of 123024.36 metric tonnes and lost calories are found to be 427687.99 million calories which could possibly feed 5,85,874 person more annually if such losses are minimized. 213 If the foodcrop losses recorded from the sampled villages of all the three productivity region is calculated for the region of Ganga- Son Divide as a whole, the total loss of crops will be 833336.807 metric tonnes and if converted into calories it will be 943496.78 million calories. If such losses are reduced than 1292461 person per annum more can be fed. Yet exactly how much of the harvest is really lost is still a question. Surprisingly little solid information exists on the precise amount and nature of loss. This is partly because losses vary greatly by crop, by country and by climatic region and partly there is no universally applied method of measuring losses. As a consequence, estimates of total postharvest food loss are controversial and range widely from 10 per cent to 40 per cent. The criteria and the methods of assessment should be standardized in order to obtain comparable figures. The postharvest losses represent more than just a loss of food, whatever is the source. When 10 per cent of a harvest is lost, the actual crop loss is just part of the problem. Also wasted is 10 per cent of all the factors that contributed to produce the crop - 10 per cent of the land used to grow the food and 10 per cent of the water used to irrigate it, along with the human labour, seeds, fertilizer and others. In other words postharvest food loss translates not just into human hunger and financial loss to farmers but also into tremendous environmental waste. The major constraints on postharvest loss in the sampled villages is lack of information concerning magnitude of the losses and most effective techniques for reducing or preventing them. Experts 214 believe farmers could cut losses by altering production methods, or by use of improved technologies. Just how much of that loss can be prevented and by what degree of effort and expense is not known. Nor there is clear evidence that if losses are reduced, the food thus rescued would find its way onto the plates of those who need it most. Therefore, it is recommended that an institutional framework be established which can address the problem of postharvest technology at regional and national levels. These centres will cater the need of villages, provide training and educaiton on aspects of postharvest technology, generate employment, bring more economic returns to the farmers and will encourage the rural entrejpreneurship. The factors involved in postharvest losses must be researched and remedies should be sought out. 215 GLOSSARY Aghani Winter Crops Arhar Red gram Ahar Artificial reservoir Atta-Chakki Flour mill Besan Powdered Bengal gram Bhangai old alluvium Bhadai Autumn crop Bajra Pearl millet Bhusa Fine straw Bakhar Underground storage made of mud Batai System in which crops are grown on borrowed land and then produce are shared between grower and owner of land Dal Splitted parts of pulse Diara Low lying area along the river Dalia Circular shaped structure made of bamboo strips for winnowing Ekka Horse driven cart Garma Summer crop Ghani Animal operated to extract oil from oilseeds GUT Jaggery Gandasa Harvesting tool Gumna Drying method of pulses Hathia Rains during month of Sept.-Oct. largely determines the extent of rabi cultivation and success of the aghani crops Jhils Ponds Jungly Wild Khadar New alluvium 216 Kewal locally called Bhagar soil Karail Locally called Bhagar soil Kula Made up of bamboo strips for winnowing Kothi Storage structure made of mud Kharif Winter harvest Khurpi Digging tool Kucchi/Kutchi Made of mud Khandsari Refined sugar Karah Boiling pan made of iron Khoa Byproduct of milk Khop Storage structure made of grass known as Kasi Kasi Wild grass grown along the streams Loo Hot wind Masur Lentil Mung Green gram Mandi Permanent market Nadi Stream Pynes Artificial reservoir Pucca/Pukka Made of burnt bricks or cemented Papad Chips made of pulses dough Puri Fried chappatis Pairadhan Broadcast method of sowing paddy Phinga Locust Rabi Spring harvest Supa Made of bamboo strips for winnowing Theka Storage structure Thela Man driven cart Tarai Foothills area Til Sesame Vana mahotsava Forest festival 217 ACRONYM PHT Post harvest technology PDS Public distribution system RNAM Regional network for agricultural machinery PHFP Post-harvest and food processing R&D Research and Development PHET Post harvest engineering and technology CIPHET Centre Institute of Postharvest Engineering and Technology BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. 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Tomar and Singh (1986) 'Effects of temperature and moisture content during storage on the seed viability in rice, The Indian Journal of Agricultural Science, vol. 56, No. 1, Pg. 782, New Delhi. 210. Verma and Pathak (1977) 'Harvesting equipment for cereals and root crops', Indian Farming, Vol. XXVII, No. 2, May, Pg. 11, New Delhi. 211. Venkatesh and Srinivasan (1988) 'Government Intervention in the Paddy marketing system - An Economic Investigation', Agricultural Situation in India, Mar, Pg. 1077, Delhi. 236 212. Verma, Sharma and Sandbar (1997) 'Appraisal of cotton and sugarcane Mechanization Needs', Journal of Research, vol. XXXIII, No. 1, Pg. 302, Special Issue, 3rd Agriculttiral Science Congress, Ludhiana. 213. Weichman (1994) 'Modified Atmosphere Packing of Vegetables : An Appraisal, Journal of Food, Science and Technology, vol. 312, No. 4, Pg. 267, CFTRI, Mysore. 237 APPENDIX-I QUESTIONNAIRE 1. General Information : i) Name of Block ii) Name of Village iii) Population of village iv) Total no. of households v) No. of household of farmers vi) Distance of village from main road (Km) vii) Type of road - Kaccha/pucca 2. General landuse : i) Total area of village ii) Gross cultivated area (Ha) iii) Net cultivated area in Kharif season (Ha) iv) Net cultivated area in Rabi season (Ha) v) Double cropped area (Ha) 3. Family Status : Name of the farmer Family member and educational qualification No. Educational qualification i) Male ii) Female iii) Children 4. Land holding : i) Size of farm (Ha) a) Small b) medium c) Large ii) Irrigated iii) Rainfed 238 5. Type of farming : i) Tractor operated ii) Bullock operated iii) Tractor-bullock operated 6. Agricultural equipment, implement and machinery in operation i) Manually operated ii) Bullock operated iii) Power operated 7. Cropping pattern, crop production/yield Season/Crop Area (Ha) Production (Q) Yield (Q/Ha) 8. Fertilizers used i) Quantity used (during Kharif) Type of Farmyard fertilizer manure (Kgs) (Kgs) ii) Quantity used (during Rabi) Type of Farmyard fertilizer manure (l^gs) (Kgs) Method of Harvesting and harvesting loss Crops Quantity Manual/Mechanical Total loss (Q) (Q) 10. Causes of Harvesting loss Bad weather Birds Rats Others 11. Method of threshing and threshing loss Crops Quantity Manual Animal Power/ T. loss (Q) (Q) diesel Thresher 12. Method of Drying and Drying loss Crops Quantity Drying method Time T. loss (0) (hrs/days) (Q) 239 13. Method of winnowing and winnowing loss Crops Quantity Manual/Mechanical Total loss (Q) (0) 14. Methods of storage and storage loss Crops Quantit>' Jute bags Kucchi/Pucci Others Total (0) Kothi loss(Q) 15. Causes of storage loss Rats Fungi/moisture Defective storage structures 16. Transportaiton from farm to home/store Crops Quantity Mode of Transportation Total loss (Q) (Q) 17. Disposal of surplus Hat/mandi 18. Mode of disposal of produce Self/broker/gain merchant 19. Precaution taken by farmers during total postharvest process 20. Training obtained from training centres : Yes/No 21. Suggestion of farmers to prevent PH losses. > 1 ^ c u PQ "w V 1 'a. ^ ejD u p. iC ^ B 'E o %i .« es o H o u o O o o O (U BQ s B o o o o ^ B >o d d d •J u s rs) 1 1 r^ (N 1 60 3 e ^" Q. Ee •^O^ n3 ^ O QQ w« bii u 1 es __ o B es o o o t> 3 o o o O o O o cd 'u 0) B u u es o o d o o o d u OJ V «n o o d d d o § t^ — ^- t^ c> 00 — Q (U 2 •t-> r> OS 00 Tt (N o fO ON o m t^ (N • o MD - ^ 00 § 00 1 oo CM ON bX) I ^ o r^ r<^ 1-H "re VO vO o o O "^ r^ O t^ o\ VO OS o r- 00 o «o (N O r^ 00 in <— c^ 00 (N oo m OO rr ^ •o r«^ (N 00 00 O 0) ON Q O o o o n j£ "O O r^ fN c w o o o o r- u •a v d d d m -^' •*' '*' '*" OS VD VO m rJ yr\ V3 ?: o o "* r^ E DX) O ^" "" R C 1 • MM &< Q^ a. . a. ^ U o cs ^ .. 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