Progressive Horticulture

In India about 82 million tones of fruits and 190 million tones of vegetables are being produced which account for about 10.00 and 13.40 per cent of the total world production. As per the reports about 25–40% of the produce which account for about 80000 crores per annum is spoiled between harvesting and consumption. In odisha, about 98 lakh metric tons of vegetables are being grown on an area of about 6.68 lakh ha. the climate is congenial for the cultivation of various vegetables round the year but the post-harvest losses are very high. through a survey in 16 villages of 4 blocks in Puri and Khurda distt. it was found that the growers are cultivating vegetables for more than 30–40 years but because of lack of knowledge on post-harvest management technique, storage structures, farmer's co-operatives, value addition into various products the returns are not remunerative. Because of competition from the adjoining states and involvement of middlemen the local growers are forced to sell their produce at throw away prices. In Bhubaneswar market, the post-harvest losses of 10–15 and 30–40 percent were recorded in various vegetable during transportation in wooden boxes and gunny bags respectively. Further, the farmers were unaware about the low cost storage structures and converting the vegetables into value added products. If the necessary demonstrations and training inputs are provided to the farmers/vegetables growers the shelf life of the produce can be increased which will help them to get better prices.