An Economic Study of Post-Harvest Losses of Banana in Durg District of Chhattisgarh

An attempt has been made in the present study to estimate the physical post-harvest losses in banana and to identify the causes of losses in Durg district of Chhattisgarh. The explicit evaluation of the impact of post-harvest losses at different stages of marketing on farmers’ net price, marketing costs, margins and efficiency have been presented. The results indicated that there are two major marketing channels viz., wholesaler channel and commission agent channel. The post-harvest losses were as high as 18 kg per quintal in the wholesale channel; comprising 31.67 per cent at the field and assembly level, 33.06 per cent at the wholesale market level and 35.28 per cent at the retail level. The total physical losses in the second marketing channel which was through commission agent were 18.95 kg per quintal with 28.50, 33.25 and 38.26 per cent in the corresponding stages. Small fruits, sun burn, harvesting injury and cracks and cankers at farm level; physiological dryness, physical damage and pressed and crushed fruits, over ripening loss at wholesale market level; physically damaged fruit and over ripened fruit at retailers level were the major causes responsible for post-harvest losses in banana. Further it was found that by separating out marketing loss at each stage of marketing, the producers’ net share and wholesaler and retailer margins have been reduced substantially. It can be inferred that marketing efficiency is inversely proportional to the volume of post-harvest losses.