What is Post Harvest Management?
- Post Harvest Management means how to maintain or manage food grains in an efficient manner without loss of quantity or quality of food grains.
Why we need Post Harvest Management?
- India has a tropical type of climate, so there are greater chances of bacterial decomposition of the food grains. This can make the food grains perish in a shorter time.
- 70 percent of perishable goods are wasted. As food grains are more perishable, the price of food grains and vegetables will increase.
- India has different types of physiographic features, so early transportation of food grains becomes difficult. So, there is a need to preserve them.
- In India, there is a problem of logistics (transportation), as the roads and highways are not in a good condition.
- To solve the problem of increasing incidence of malnourishment, anemia, hidden hunger and food security.
- To maintain price stabilization in the market.
- To increase the farmers’ income, as post harvest management will help them sell their food grains whenever they need.
- To prevent hoarding and black marketing by intermediaries.
What are the steps taken by the Government for Post Harvest Management?
- 9th Five Year Plan- During this plan, the Government concentrated on food security and basic minimum needs.
- 11th Five Year Plan- Government gave major emphasis on Post Harvest Management through infrastructure, mechanization of harvesting methods and improvement in packing.
- 12th Five Year Plan- The Government focused on Post Harvest Management to enhance quality standards and to increase the income level of farmers through harvesting, storage, pest control and preserving micro nutrients.
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)- 100 percent FDI in food processing, management and in marketing; single brand retailing.
→49 percent FDI in Multi brand retailing through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) rout.
Contents
- Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna– To connect the rural and farm area by 2019 for proper road connectivity for better logistics.
- Construction of more Mega Food Parks.
- Grameen Bhandaaran Yojna– Construction of modern silos and cold storage for preserving food grains and vegetables through PPP model and Viability Gap Funding as recommended by Vijay Kelkal Committee.
- Introduction of ‘AGMARK‘ scheme for quality bench marking.
- Introduction of Farmer Producer Organization which provides empowerment of farmers with recent technology and knowledge for food management and storage.
- Promotion of back-end infrastructure like roadways; encouraging private sector to construct godowns, cold storage facilities for perishable goods and modern technology for packing.
- Recently, the Government announced e-NAM (electronic- National Agriculture Market), where farmers can sell their goods directly in the market without any intermediary. This will further increase the income of the farmers.
Thus, better Post Harvest Management is necessary to solve the problem of hunger and hidden hunger in the country and to improve the economic conditions of farmers and also agricultural export.
