Can Management of Post-Harvest Losses Increase Farmers’ Income: A Case Study of Rice and Wheat Cultivation in Chhattisgarh

The present study has portrayed the extent of post-harvest losses in rice and wheat cultivation in Chhattisgarh in both physical and monetary terms and has identified the factors for these losses so that possible measures could be taken to check these losses and consequently, increase farmers’ income. For study, data were collected from 100 paddy-growing and 100 wheat-growing farmers in 10 villages of Rajnandgaon and Dongargarh blocks using multi-stage sampling design. The post-harvest losses were estimated to be 4.63 kg/q and 180.48 kg/ha in rice and 3.12 kg/q and 50.73 kg/ha in wheat at farm level. The value of total post-harvest losses was found to be 2455/ha in paddy and 735/ha in wheat. These losses were worked out to be 62.97/q in paddy and 45.24/q in wheat. The study has identified area, education, age, storage facilities and timely labour availability to be the determinants of post-harvest losses in paddy which were found negatively significant. In case of wheat, crop yield was found positively significant and timely labour availability was found negatively significant. The study has suggested the development of infrastructure for storage and supply of labour can reduce post-harvest losses and consequently, increase farmers’ income.