Centre for Food and Agribusiness Management, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow – 226 013, Uttar Pradesh.
The study has analyzed the adoption behaviour of vegetable growers on various post-harvest practices such as washing, sorting & grading, preserving & cooling, dehydrating/drying, packaging, labelling and storage for value addition, based on primary survey of 556 vegetable growers in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh by administering a structured questionnaire. Various socio-demographic and farm level factors, which hare likely to affect the adoption of post-harvest practices in vegetable value chain, have been empirically identified using the Poisson Count Regression Model (PCRM). With the emerging consumer market for vegetables and vegetable products coupled with upcoming organized retailing in fresh agricultural produce, the improvement in post-harvest management and logistics & distribution, starting from the farm gate becomes important. The findings of this study have critical implications for all stakeholders involved in vegetable value chain.
