Extent of post-harvest losses in different stages of wheat production in Madhya Pradesh

The present study has been carried out to estimate the extent of losses occurring different stages of wheat production. The relevant primary data has been collected during the year 2012 -13 from 160 wheat growers from two major wheat producing districts i.e. Hoshangabad & Vidisha of Central Narmada Valley and Vindhyan Plateau Agro climatic regions of Madhya Pradesh, respectively. It is observed from the data that the harvest losses was found more in mid varieties (2.84 kg/q) as compared to early varieties (2.79kg/q) of wheat. The quantity loss during threshing and winnowing was 0.34kg/q. The average loss during transportation was found to be 0.21 kg/q and found more in tractor trolley (0.23 kg/q) as compared to the bullock-cart (0.19 kg/q) mode of transportation. The quantity lost during storage of grains was found to be maximum in rodents as compared to fungus. In total post harvest losses the maximum quantity loss was found in storage (59%) followed by harvest (30%), handling (5%), threshing & winnowing (4%) and transportation (2%) stages of production. There were remarkable post harvest losses occurred in different stages of wheat production and the majority of respondents have lack of technical knowhow about post harvest technology. For this reason, efforts should be made for capacity building by providing training and technical advice to post-harvest handling, storage practice, drying and proper use of insecticides that can significantly reduce these losses.