Post harvest management & Agro-food retail market development in different allied sectors in India

With more than two thirds of the population dependent on agriculture and the ever decreasing per capita land holding, production agriculture alone cannot assure adequate livelihood security to 127 million Indian farmers and their dependents. Therefore, it is necessary to provide occupational diversity for the rural areas for enhancing income and employment generation. It is in this context that post harvest management and processing in the production catchments has been proposed to be a suitable alternative. Regionally differentiated packages of post harvest technologies are being developed for promoting through the concept of agro-processing centers. Latest technological interventions are necessary for ensuring cost effectiveness and quality. Cooperative and contract farming concepts also augur well for promoting post harvest practices in the production catchments. The goal is to minimize the post harvest losses, value addition to the produce and utilize the by-products effectively while maintaining consumer safety. To sum up, promotion of post harvest technology in the production catchments will not only create more income and employment but would also lead to better rural living standards and cleaner and healthy environment.