Economic Analysis of Losses at Different Stages of Harvest and Post-Harvest Operation in Wheat Production in Gwalior District of Madhya Pradesh

The overall wastage of wheat production at different harvest and post-harvest stages was estimated at 6.58 per cent. It was 8.07 per cent in the case of small farms, 7.05 per cent in medium farms and 6.27 per cent in large farms. The maximum loss of grains occurred at the time of harvesting of crop (2.18%) followed by storage losses (1.92%) due to rats, high atmospheric moisture, insect pests, etc. Nearly 0.38 per cent grain was wasted during transportation. The quantity of feed unconsumed by (animal) livestock was estimated at 0.20 per cent. The survey showed that the storage loss was highest (2.98%) on small farms, followed by medium farms (2.09%) and large farms (1.73%). Wastage during home consumption was estimated at 1.02 per cent in the case of small farms followed by medium farms (0.51%) and large farms (0.27%). Considering heavy amounts of wheat grain handled at different stages, the wheat grains lost were found to be in very large quantities.