Decision-Making Behaviour and Impact of Post-Harvest Losses on Tomato Growers

Abstract

Postharvest losses in tomato is a matter of concern for all tomato growers. Postharvest technology is an integral part of agriculture production and utilization system and it plays key role in loss reduction, value addition, food security, employment and income generation. The present study was conducted in four districts of state Haryana, namely Nuh, Sonipat, Gurugram and Palwal. From each of these districts, two blocks were selected randomly. From each block two villages were selected and from each village ten tomato growers were selected, thus a total of 160 respondents were selected for the proposed study. With regards to socio economic profi le of the respondents, it was revealed that majority of farmers belonged to middle age group educated up to high school and intermediate school educational level. Further, it was revealed that majority of the respondents had small (2.51-5.00) land holding size, with major occupation as agriculture (particularly tomato farming) and earning Rs. 3-7 lakhs annually. Nearly half of the respondents belonged to medium category of mass media exposure and extension contact. The paired ‘t’ test indicated 71.746 ‘t-value’ signifi cant at 1% level of probability, this showed that there was signifi cant impact before and after the adoption of post-harvest management practices on the socio-economic profi le of the tomato growers.