Post-harvest wastage costs country Tk 34.42b a year

The post-harvest wastage of 13 selected fruits and vegetables in major growing areas costs the country about Tk 34.42 billion each year, according to a recent study, reports UNB. Principal investigator Prof M Kamrul Hassan with Bishan Lal Das Chowdhury and Nasrin Akhter of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) conducted the study titled 'Post-Harvest Loss Assessment: A Study to Formulate Policy for Loss Reduction of Fruits and Vegetables and Socio-economic Uplift of the Stakeholders'. During the study, 13 selected fruits and vegetables - jackfruit, pineapple, papaya, mango, lychee, banana, orange, cucumber, cauliflower, tomato, okra, brinjal and red amaranth - were selected in major growing areas to identify the post-harvest losses. The study was carried out with financial support from the National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP). The NFPCSP is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management with financial support from the European Union (EU) and USAID. The most striking finding of the study is that the post-harvest loss of fruits and vegetables ranged from 23.6 per cent to 43.5 per cent. The total loss was found to be the highest in jackfruit followed by pineapple (43.0 per cent), papaya (39.9 per cent) and cauliflower (27.1 per cent). The highest loss in jackfruit is attributed to the fact that jackfruit is seriously damaged by fruit borer and soft rot since the growers of the surveyed region, Mymensingh and Gazipur, hardly apply any pesticide or fungicide to reduce damages in the field. The second important reason for higher loss in jackfruit is the excessive use of ripening chemicals, which accelerate fruit ripening and dramatically shorten shelf life. The study shows that the higher loss of pineapples was mostly due to the excessive use of growth-promoting chemicals. Principal investigator Prof Hassan said inadequate and substandard transport systems for perishables from the local assemble markets to the wholesale markets, and absence of appropriate storage facility greatly contributes to the significant losses of fruits and vegetables in Bangladesh. He said these losses actually have two-fold social impacts. Firstly, the country is overburdened by the enormous annual monetary loss. Secondly, the consumers are deprived of the consumption of the highly nutritious fruits and vegetables. The losses are due mainly to the substandard post-harvest handling practices, inadequate transport, lack of storage facility, and ignorance of the stakeholders, the researcher said. He said this is a fact that cent per cent loss cannot be checked, but definitely a significant portion of the losses could be minimised, and thereby millions of taka would be saved annually. The study reveals that post-harvest operations like sorting, grading and packaging are hardly done to ensure produce quality. Only for some high-value crops like mango and tomato, plastic crates have been introduced for long distance transport. Age-old traditional transportation systems like open truck has been found to be the principal means for long-distance transportation. Generally, no modern refrigerated vehicle is in operation in fruits and vegetables supply chain. Modern storage facility is absent for most fruits and vegetables except for potato cold storage, the study said. Price analyses of horticultural commodity at different levels of marketing showed that the increase in price ranged from 44.52 per cent (mango) to 252.35 per cent (red amaranth) at the retailers' end when compared with the growers' sale price. Also, unavoidable problems and inadequacy of transport facilities force the growers to sell their produces either to the 'Faria' or to the 'Bepari' in nearby markets. Besides, strong trade organisation of the intermediaries and lack or presence of weak grower's organisations compounds the problems.