Madhya Pradesh incurs post-harvest fruits and vegetables losses worth over Rs5,300 crore annually owing to significant dearth of on-farm processing facilities, apex industry body Assocham said on Monday.
“With about 5.5 per cent share, Madhya Pradesh is India’s ninth major horticulture producing State with over 14,000 tonne of fruits and vegetables produced across the State annually,” according to a study titled ‘Horticulture Sector in India: State level experience,’ conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).
“Currently over 77 MT fruits and about 150 MT vegetables are produced in India and their production is growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) ranging between 5-6 per cent respectively,” said DS Rawat, national secretary general of Assocham.
“About 30 per cent of total fruits and vegetables produced are rendered unfit for consumption due to spoilage after harvesting as they are highly perishable commodities, as such India incurs post-harvest fruits and vegetable losses worth over Rs2 lakh crore each year largely owing to the absence of food processing units, modern cold storage facilities and a callous attitude towards tackling the grave issue of post-harvest losses,” said Rawat.
“Besides, lack of proper storage facilities is also responsible for wastage of substantial quantities of fruits and veggies produced in India and it can be prevented to a great extend by controlling post-harvest environmental conditions.”
“The magnitude of post-harvest loss in fruits and vegetables can be minimized by proper cultural operations, harvesting, transportation, storage, pre and post harvest treatments and other such significant measures,” said Rawat.
He said considering that storage was most important aspect of post-harvest fruit and vegetable handling as it extended the storage life of the produce thereby enhancing its availability period.
Total storage capacity in India is over 300 lakh tonnes and there is an additional requirement of cold storage of about 370 lakh tonnes for fruits and vegetable storage.