Post-harvest Situation and Losses in India

India is second largest producer of food next to China with estimated food processing industry size at US$ 70 billion. In 2012, the production was 257 million tonnes of food grain (rice, wheat, coarse grains and pulses), 75 million tonnes of fruits and 149 million tonnes of vegetables. Out of these amounts, only 2.2 % of these are processed. In contrast, countries like USA (65%) and China (23%) are far ahead of India in reducing the wastage and enhancing the value addition and shelf life of the farm products. The losses in postharvest sector are estimated to be from 10 to 25 per cent in durables, semi-perishables and products like milk, meat, fish and eggs. The estimated losses in fruits and vegetables are higher and reached from 30 to 40 per cent. These percentages are not acceptable and adversely affect the Indian economy. To prevent such amount of losses, different organizations in India have been trying to find solution for serious issue related to post-harvest. Some efforts came with progress and achievements, other work didn’t reflect to visible success as expected. So, in this study, our aim is to address and discuss the important ramified issues in post-harvest in India with focusing on the rules or constructions of most postharvest contributories. As noticed from the comprehensive literature review, India has well established postharvest institutions supported by government, public and private sector. The national-scale surveys and studies have been carried out mainly by the government and in few cases international organization, while, case studies and district/level research mostly carried out by local research institutions and universities. There are many remarkable technologies distributed successfully and reached the end-users/farmers in some places. However the continuous impact and follow up stages of them haven’t been covered by literature review. The rules of national/international non-governmental organizations varied and concentrated on specific areas. The economic losses reported either in districts or national level and the figures of losses didn’t match for some cases. The role of women and their suited technology in post-harvest clearly highlighted, but the procedures of engaging them in postharvest losses reduction strategies still not clear.