A Study on Post Harvest Losses in Pulses in Nagaon District of Assam

Abstract

Post-harvest loss is one of the major concerns in agriculture at present stage as demand for food is ever increasing and demand supply gap is ever widening. Post-harvest loss refers to loss in the amount of food grain from the stage of harvesting of the crop till it reaches the ultimate consumer. Reduction in post-harvest losses along with improved cultivation technique will help to bridge the gap between demand and supply of food grains in our country. Though India is the highest producer of pulses in the world, it largely has to rely on import of pulses as domestic production cannot meet the demand of the country for pulses. Minimizing post-harvest losses is an important aspect to provide pulses to more countrymen in need. A study was carried out in Nagaon district of Assam with the objective to find the extent of post-harvest loss in pulses at various stages of and different categories of farmers. The loss of production was observed highest in small farmers (7.84 per cent). During farm level, the loss was highest at harvesting and storage stage (29 and 28 per cent of farm level loss, respectively). At the market level, highest loss was observed during retailing stage which contributed 40.91 per cent of the total market level loss of pulses. Adequate infrastructure facilities mainly storage and improved cultivation technique along with efficient tools will help to reduce the post-harvest losses in pulses to a minimum level.