Knowledge Status of Onion Growers Regarding Pre and Post-Harvest Management Practices

Abstract

India’s large population is vegetarian and their routine diet and healthy diet include vegetables which play very signifi cant role by supplying diff erent minerals and vitamins essential for healthy body. Therefore, vegetables have great importance for food and nutritional security. Onion is one of the major crops among cultivated vegetables in our country. It is popularly known as “Queen of kitchen” plays an important role in cookery, as it is used in both forms i.e. green as well as in mature form by the people in diff erent dishes and soups. The fi ndings reported that overall knowledge of farmers pertaining to pre and post-harvest management practices for onion production was moderate to high since about 85 per cent of the onion farmers belonged to these categories mainly due to correct knowledge of pre harvest management practices viz. number as well critical stages of irrigation, time of sowing in nursery, time of transplanting, weed control measures and proper seed rate while maturity index and proper harvesting, precooling, proper packaging material as post harvest management practices. But it was found low in case of curative measures and certain value addition practices which included diseases and their control measures followed by storage, curing, stoppage of irrigation before harvesting, grading, insect pests and their control measures, and waiting period for spray of chemicals before harvesting of produce.