Tk 3,442cr annual loss for fruit, vegetable wastage: Study
Post-harvest wastage of 13 selected fruits and vegetables in major growing areas annually costs the country about Tk 3,442 crore on retail price, according to a recent study.
Findings show that the post-harvest loss ranges from 23.6 to 43.5 percent of the fruits and vegetables that include jackfruit, pineapple, papaya, mango, litchi, banana, orange, cucumber, cauliflower, tomato, okra, brinjel, and red amaranth.
The extent of loss was found highest in jackfruit followed by pineapple (43 percent), papaya (39.9 percent), and cauliflower (27.1 percent), the study says.
The loss is attributed to the fact that jackfruit is seriously damaged by fruit borer (insects) and is soft rot since the growers of the surveyed region, Mymensingh and Gazipur, hardly apply any pesticides or fungicides 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.
Higher loss of pineapples was mostly due to the excessive use of growth-promoting chemicals, the study says. The growers and other intermediaries use chemical ripening agents just to de-green the fruit skin though the chemical does not accelerate its ripening.
Principal investigator Prof Dr M Kamrul 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. The losses are caused mainly for the substandard post-harvest handling practices, inadequate transport, lack of storage facility, and ignorance of the stakeholders, he said.
Price analyses of horticultural commodity at different levels of marketing showed that the increase in price ranged from 44.52 percent (mango) to 252.35 percent (red amaranth) at the retailers' end when compared with the growers' sale price.
"Post-Harvest Loss Assessment: A Study to Formulate Policy for Loss Reduction of Fruits and Vegetables and Socioeconomic Uplift of the Stakeholders" was conducted by Dr Hassan with Bishan Lal Das Chowdhury and Nasrin Akhter of Bangladesh Agricultural University.
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