Internationl Research Journal of Agricultural Economics and Statistics Volume 4 | Issue 1 | March, 2013 | 47-50

Research Paper Marketing and post harvest loss assessment of vegetables in district (U.P.)

AVANISH KUMAR SINGH, NEERAJ SINGH AND B.B. SINGH

See end of the paper for ABSTRACT : Post harvest loss assessment in marketing and the methods of estimation are important areas of authors’ affiliations research in post-harvest management. A study was taken up in Varanasi distt. of . This study were Correspondence to : conducted with three major contributors in vegetable production and marketing in farmers, wholesalers and AVANISH KUMAR retailers, therefore a multistage sampling procedure were adopted for selecting villages, whole sale markets and SINGH retailers. As a result of which five vegetable growing village and two wholesale markets were selected from each Department of Agriculture of two major dominants block of the distt. i.e. Araziline and Kashividyapeeth. Hence, for the present study were Economics and Statistics, Tilak Dhari (P.G.) College, selected randomly 100 vegetable growers, 40 whole sellers and 80 retailers. Seeing the area and production of JAUNPUR (U.P.) INDIA crops in Varanasi distt, five major vegetables viz., Tomato Brinjal, Chilli, Cabbage and Cauliflower were selected. Email : aksinp10@ Data were collected by using a well designed pre-tested questionnaire by personal interview method. Finding of redifmail.com this study the post harvest losses in vegetables crop vary from 9.47% to 26.57% at different stage of marketing. The maximum post harvest loss occur in tomato, followed by brinjal, cauliflower, cabbage and chilies. This Paper History : findings of the present study draw the attention that the vegetable growers, wholesalers and retailers must be Received : 17.10.2012; educated in field of post harvest management of vegetables to reduce the losses. Different mean of education and Revised : 25.01.2013; training on Post harvest management of vegetables must be studied and their impact of analysis show be done to Accepted: 26.02.2013 see the effect on farmer, wholesalers and retailers. KEY WORDS : Post harvest loss, Assessment, Marketing of vegetables

HOW TO CITE THIS PAPER : Singh, Avanish Kumar, Singh, Neeraj and Singh, B.B. (2013). Marketing and post harvest loss assessment of vegetables in (U.P.), Internat. Res. J. agric. Eco. & Stat., 4 (1) : 47-50.

INTRODUCTION 40 per cent varying from one crop to another varieties, packing, infrastructure and from season to season. Assuming an average Vegetables are important source of food and income. They loss of around 25 per cent there is a loss of Rs. 8000 crores per can play a significant role in food and nutritional security as annum to our country (Annonymous, 1998). Thus, there is a well as the poverty amelioration. They contribute largely to dire need to minimize the post harvest losses of vegetables, for solve the food and nutritional problems of the country. India is which it is essential to understand control of various factors the second largest vegetable producer in the world, sharing 12 which contribute to such losses. per cent of total world vegetable production. But still it fails to The development of any vegetable crop depends on its fullfill the basic requirement of ever increasing population of net income, which is solely based that how efficiently the the country because of low productivity and huge post-harvest produce is marketed. The marketing system in Varanasi district. losses from farmer’s field to market and finally to consumers. by and large, operates under the normal forms of supply and The considerable gap between the gross production and net demand. The trade of vegetables is still mainly in the hands of availability of vegetables has been felt due to heavy post private enterprises. The price of vegetables varies from one harvest losses. zone to another according to the season, production and Post harvest losses of perishables are more serious in a marketing. Rapid price fluctuation in vegetables shows how developing country like India. Mangal and Siddiqui (1996) vegetables growers are suffering in getting the fair price for studied that the post harvest losses of vegetables ranged 8 to their produce.

HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE AVANISH KUMAR SINGH, NEERAJ SINGH AND B.B. SINGH

In India two aspects relating to the movement of Estimation of post harvest loss : vegetables from the farm to the consumers require It is the loss that occurs from the point of harvest of consideration. The first concerns the channel through which vegetables in the field till it reaches the ultimate consumers. the produce moves, the agencies participating and the costs. Care was taken to assess and record the physical loss at the The second concerns the patterns, the valume of such flows time of harvest and after, at the field level and also at wholesale and the seasonality of such movements. and retail levels. Economic loss was estimated by valuing the In this context, present study shows a path on various PHL at the average price realized by growers in sale of marketing methods and losses due to post-harvest activities vegetables. Simple averages, mean score and percentages were of their produce in the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. The used for the estimation of post-harvest loss at these stages of present study has been taken up with the objectives – marketing. – To assess the post harvest losses in selected vegetables both in physical and monetary terms at different RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS stages of handling of the produce at wholesale markets. – To estimate the losses in vegetables on account of The results and their interpretation are presented under storage, packaging handling and distribution at different stages the following heads : of marketing. – To examine the marketing practices for vegetables in Post harvest losses of vegetables at different stages: Varanasi markets. Vegetables harvested, pass through various stages of – To suggest measure to improve the marketing and marketing before reaching the consumer. The losses at different that help reduce post harvest losses in vegetables. stages of handling viz., field, wholesale and retail market have been estimated and presented in Table 1. It is evident from Table that the overall post harvest losses for vegetable crops ATERIALS AND ETHODS M M towards the consumption end of the post harvest distribution Sampling procedure and estimation : system was around 10-27 per cent of the harvested quantity. A multi-stage sampling design was adopted to select The maximum losses occurred in tomato (26.57 %) followed by sample for data collection under this study. The following brinjal (16.64 %), cauliflower (14.76 %), cabbage (11.92 %) and diagrammatic representation of selection of block, village and chilli (9.47 %). Interpreting the data for this result it revealed markets. that at retail, level the losses in tomato were more due to sorting (4.59 %), rotting and mechanical injury while retailers selling Varanasi Distt. their produce (5.02 %). Tomato is a very sensitive crop and cannot be stored for even short period if it is fully ripe. In tomato the losses followed after retailers is at wholesale level Araziline block Kashvidyapeeth block and at farm level. Chilli is the only crop of vegetables where the losses were less (farm level 2.79 %), wholesale level 3.37 per cent and Village Vegetable markets Village Vegetable markets Mehdiganj (10) Rajatalab (10**)(20***) (10*) Chandua (10**)(20***) retail level 3.31 per cent. In cabbage, however the losses at Horsos (10*) Kachhwa (10**)(20***) Ramna (10*) Sundarpur (10**)(20***) farm level were very less (1.27 %) but at wholesale level the (10*) Naipura (10*) Beerbhanpur (10*) Betawar (10*) loses were 7.75 per cent which was due to the losses occurred Darekhu (10*) Tikari (10*) during the storage (4.21 %) and mechanical injury during * - Vegetable growers selected randomly ** - Whole saler growers selected randomly transportation (1.06 %). Since the cabbage is stored for a durable ***- - retailer growers selected randomly period, losses occurred during sorting by the retailer increase Total No. of vegetables growers - 100 Total No. of whole salers - 40 the price of vegetable. A look at the overall losses due to Total No. of retailer - 80 transportation revealed that the losses due to transportation at any level was less and varied from 0.25 per cent to 1.62 per Vegetable crops for study : cent of marketing. At farm level the losses is brinjal was 3.15 Vegetables include a large number of crops grown both per cent which was next to tomato. Similar was the trends of in summer and in winter. However, for the present study, losses in brinjal at the wholesale and retail level. vegetables grown in winter-season were selected, keeping in view that during winter attack of diseases pests on vegetable Post harvest losses of vegetables (%) in physical and monetary is less and the losses occur mostly due to improper handling terms in wholesale markets: of crops. Therefore, seeing the area of production of crops in Time and money are required to cultivate vegetable Varanasi district five major vegetables viz., tomato, brinjal, chilli, produce and unless the farmers is providing vegetables only cabbage and cauliflower were selected for the present study. for his own household, he automatically becomes part of the

Internat. Res. J. agric. Eco.& Stat. 4 (1) March, 2013 : 47-50 48 HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE MARKETING AND POST HARVEST LOSS ASSESSMENT OF VEGETABLES

Table 1: Post harvest losses at different levels (In percentage) Farm level Wholesale level Retailer level Total Tomato Losses at harvesting 1.8 Sorting 2.0 Sorting 4.59 (Mechanical injury+Rotting) Storage 3.72 Storage 4.75 Transportation 0.5 Packaging 0.47 Packaging 0.6 Selling (Mechanical injury+Rotting) 5.02 Transportation 1.5 Transportation 1.62 Total 7.49% Total 8.97% Total 10.11% 26.57% Chilli Losses at harvesting 1.0 Storage 2.0 Sorting 0.75 (Mechanical injury+Rotting) Storage 0.6 Transportation 1.37 Transportation 0.25 Packaging 0.32 Selling (Mechanical injury+Rotting) 2.31 Transportation 0.87 Total 2.79% Total 3.37% Total 3.31% 9.47% Cabbage Storage 0.5 Storage 4.75 Sorting 2.03 Transportation 0.77 Packaging 0.6 Transportation 0.5 Transportation 1.06 Selling (Mechanical injury+Rotting) 1.71 Total 1.27% Total 7.75% Total 4.21% 11.92% Cauliflower Harvesting (M+Rotting) 1.8 Sorting 2.0 Sorting 1.0 Transportation 1.0 Storage 4.0 Transportation 0.5 Transportation 1.75 Selling (Mechanical injury+Rotting) 2.71 Total 2.8% Total 7.75% Total 4.21% 14.76% Brinjal Harvesting (M+Rotting) 2.35 Sorting 2.06 Sorting 2.15 Transportation 0.8 Storage 4.0 Transportation 1.0 Transportation 1.5 Selling (Mechanical injury+Rotting) 2.78 Total 3.15% Total 7.56% Total 5.93% 16.64%

Table 2 : Post harvest losses of vegetables (%) in physical and Marketing practices and channels: monetary terms in wholesale markets The marketing of produce is as important as the Name of crop Physical loss (in qt.) Monetary loss (Rs./qt) production itself. The critical factor, which decides the decision Tomato 1045.64 14.89 of the farmers is the price prevailing/offered to the farmers Chilli 160.58 22.71 during the season. Cabbage 479.81 16.87 The vegetable marketing channel commonly observed in Cauliflower 1414.11 52.31 Varanasi district (U.P.) market are – Brinjal 591.09 37.56 Farmer – wholesalers-cum-commission agent (local/ distant) – retailer (local/distant) – consumers and more than 75 per cent of vegetables is marketed through this channel in market economy. Therefore, to see the physical and monetary Varanasi market, through farmers-retailers- consumer, Farmers losses of vegetables in wholesale markets, the data were – local seller- consumers and farmers – consumers channel analyzed and are reported in Table 2. The table reveals that the also in practice but with little quantity. Farmers – wholesalers – physical loss in vegetables was due to tomato (1045.64 q) and (local/distant) – consumers is the major marketing channel in was worked out the monetary value of Rs. 14.89 per quintal. distant market Delhi, Patna, W. Bengal, Ranchi etc. From monetary point of view the losses in vegetables was As reported in Table 3, only 5-10 per cent of the growers more in tomato followed by cauliflower, brinjal, chilli and were doing self marketing and the same proportion of growers cabbage. were selling their produce directly from the fields. Due to the The overall picture of these losses indicated that the post price fluctuation in the market, some times farmers have to harvest losses in vegetables not only reduce the availability of hold back their produce and wait for 1 to 3 days depending vegetables per capita but also reduce the farmers and producers upon the nature of produce. So that they can get a good share in consumers rupees. reasonable price of their produce. Average marketing cost bear by the farmers vary from Rs. 31-41/quintal of their produce.

Internat. Res. J. agric. Eco. & Stat. 4(1) March, 2012 : 47-50 HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE 49 AVANISH KUMAR SINGH, NEERAJ SINGH AND B.B. SINGH

Table 3 : Marketing of vegetables Name of crop Tomato Chilli Cabbage Cauliflower Brinjal Self-marketing (%) 10% 5% 10% 5% 5% Sale to post harvest contractor (%) 85% 80% 75% 80% 85% Field sale (%) 5% 5% 15% 15% 5% Average marketing cost (Rs./ q) (loading, unloading, 41.5% 31.5% 34% 19% 36.5% transportation, commission etc.) Mean score of temporary holding days 1 2 2 1 3

marketing practices like, storage, packaging and sorting were Suggestion or possible strategies to reduce the post harvest observed at all the three levels of marketing i.e.- farm, wholesale losses and improve marketing process in vegetables: and retail levels. Transportation is an important aspect and The ability of a vegetable grower to plan and act on an due to improper handling process and improper selection of efficient marketing strategy for vegetable will be greatly added transportation means, losses in vegetables are observed at all by access to accurate, adequate and timely information. the levels of marketing process. Efficient market information system can be used to derive The assessment of post harvest losses of vegetables at positive benefits for farmers, traders and policy makers. The various stage of handling would help in identifying the factors most important objective of marketing strategy is to sell their responsible for such losses and their extent. This in turn would produce at time and location that bring the highest possible help in developing proper measures required at different stages return. The immediate aim of marketing to improvement to prevent/reduce such losses which would help to improve programme is generally to generate a higher income for farmers the availability of selected vegetables both for domestic through : consumption and also for export purposes. – Reduced post harvest losses by the introduction of better handling method. Authors’ affiliations: – Achievement of higher market price because of NEERAJ SINGH, NRM Division, Indian Iinstitute of Vegetable Research (ICAR), VARANASAI (U.P.) INDIA improved quality of produce. – Proper training in marketing strategies. B.B. SINGH, U.P. Autonomous College, VARANASAI (U.P.) INDIA – Transportation and packaging material can be sorted out by proper educating the whole salers for effective LITERATURE CITED packaging storage and transportation of produce along with other aspect of post harvest management in vegetables. Sharma Anonymous (1998). Presidential address by DDG (Hort), ICAR, at et al. (1999) made observations on post harvest losses of major group meeting of PHT workers of all Indian Coordinated Research Project on post harvest technology of horticultural vegetable crops in Himachal Pradesh and Gajanana et al. (2002) crops. Jan 9-11, SKN College of Agriculture, Jobner worked on the post harvest losses in case of tomato. (RAJASTHAN) INDIA.

Conclusions: Gajanana, T.M., Murthy D.S. and Sudha, M. (2002). Post harvest The marketing and post harvest losses of vegetables, an loss assessment in vegetables – A case study of tomato, Proceeding of International Conference on vegetables, Nov. 11- evident in distribution system as the final produce moves down 14, 2002, Bangalore, KARNATAKA (INDIA). the pipeline from harvesting to its consumption. Based on the results, the following conclusions and policy implications are: Mangal, J.L. and Siddiqui (1996). Post harvest technology of vegetables A number of marketing channels were observed in this in India. In international seminar on post harvest technology of vegetables. Asian productivity organization and Pakistan area for the sale and purchase of vegetables, but the most Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, PAKISTAN. common channels observed were farmers wholesalers – consumers; which is the major marketing practice of vegetables Sharma, R.K., Mehta, P. and Sharma, A.K. (1999). Post harvest losses in Varanasi district. The post harvest losses in vegetables varied of major vegetables crop in Himanchal Pradesh. Indian agric. Mktg., 13(2) : 136-141. from 9.47 per cent to 26.57 per cent at different stages of marketing. Maximum losses in different vegetables were observed at whole-sale level of marketing followed by retail market and that farmer’s field. After harvesting of vegetables, *—*—*—*—*—*—*—*

Internat. Res. J. agric. Eco.& Stat. 4 (1) March, 2013 : 47-50 50 HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE