Reducing post-harvest losses: a bottom up approach for food and nutritional security

Horticulture plays an important role in food and nutritional security. Food losses occur due to poor infrastructure and lack of technology, insufficient skills, knowledge and management of supply chain and lack of access to markets. There are internal and external factors that contribute to post-harvest losses. A considerable amount of fruits and vegetables produced in India is lost due to improper post-harvest operations and as a result there exists considerable gap between gross production and per capita net availability. This study examines the key factors that affect post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables in Gujarat, and finds that pests and diseases, lack of proper cleaning and washing and poor handling as major factors causing post-harvest losses. A reduction in post-harvest losses may increase the supply of fruits and vegetables and enhance food and nutritional security in India.