Supply chain steps in major fruits crops in middle gujarat
The main fruit crops in the middle Gujarat region are shown in Fig 1’s supply chain. The table illustrates how goods are transferred from farmers to customers via cold storage, retailers and wholesalers. Fruits were transferred in part from farmer to wholesaler, retailer and consumer and in part from farmer to retailer, retailer and consumer. While some retailers and wholesalers kept their goods in storage to earn more money later, some producers and wholesalers chose to export their goods directly and some farmers chose to hold their goods for better prices. This supply chain performs a number of tasks, including packing, transportation, grading and sorting. These tasks are all carried out at the producer, distributor, or retailer levels (Fig 2). According to
Kumari and Dhingra (2024) in their study also they revealed that farmers have performed the same post-harvest operations like, sorting, grading, cooling, value addition and packaging.
Sorting
Sorting is the process of separating the many fruit varieties from a fruit lot. Agribusiness items are ranked according to their dimensions and quality. They are sorted according to this grade and allocated to various sales channels. When each item is appropriately distributed based on its unique properties, it may produce a higher income. Larger and higher-quality agricultural goods typically bring in more money. Grading in the past was dependent on people. Agricultural items were then classified according to their weight and size using mechanical instruments. Even now, these gadgets remain a dependable way to grade and classify materials.
Hand sorting
Sorting is the manual operation, which is done after harvesting to differentiate the produce by quality wise as remove the product or fruit which was deteriorated by pest and diseases. In banana sorting is mostly done manually or by labour and separates the cracked and pest and disease attacked fruit, same operation was done in mango, papaya and lime.
Grading
Hand grading
The second operation after sorting was grading which is done for separation of fruit by its quality, size and maturity level. Banana was graded by its market requirement, like export quality grade-A banana was graded on its size and quality parameters and washed through chemical water and grade-B banana was graded by its size only and washed through tap water.
Mango grading was done for different markets as per their demand
i.
e. if mango was sent to metro city grading is based on quality, equal size and maturity indices. Maturity indices help in deciding that when a given commodity should be harvested to provide some marketing and to ensure the attainment of acceptable eating quality to the consumer. While for local and small city grading is based on quality and size.
Mechanical grading
Fruits required mechanical grading is banana and mango and that too for export purpose only. In banana there was packaging house located in different banana cultivating area, where banana was mechanically graded by grading machine by its size and quality parameters. Whereas in mango pre-harvest contractor also had mechanical grading instrument for checking fruit size, maturity level and quality. The use of mechanical grading will smoothen the supply chain by doing proper and accurate grading of fruits. Farmers can improve their grading by using mechanical grader.
Packaging
Packaging practises was done in fruits as per the distance of the market that how far produce will travel. If produce travels long distance, it is packed either in boxes or crates while for short distance market it is packed either in gunny bags or plastic bags. The use of proper packaging material protects product during transportation and reduce the losses that occurs during transportation.
Crates
Crates are generally strong plastic box structure with capacity of 20 kg and aeration facility, banana and lime are mostly packed in crates (Fig 3).
Wooden box
Wooden boxes are wooden structure with 10 or 20 kg capacity and with or without aeration facility (Fig 4). Mango and Papaya are mostly packed with wooden box because both fruit being juicy after ripening and it may lead to transportation loss so wooden box structure used for preventing loss, wooden box generally used for interstate transportation or long-distance markets.
Paper box
Paper box are generally the boxes which are made from hard and thick papers, generally used in mango and papaya for short distance market or intrastate transportation which consumes low time in transportation, while in banana box packaging was done for export packaging for maintaining quality parameters also in other fruits like mango and papaya paper box was used for the export packaging (Fig 5).
Transportation
Transportation was done in selected fruits in middle Gujarat in truck, tempo and other small commercial vehicles. Banana was mostly transported through 4 tonne capacity tempos for short distance market and for long distance market wholesalers send maximum 10 tonne capacity trucks to local banana suppliers or agents, while in mango and papaya fruits same transportation facility were used.
Storage
The proper storage facility is must for efficient supply chain management and post-harvest losses management. In middle Gujarat, Traditional storage methods are being supplemented and slowly replaced by modern, temperature- controlled warehousing. Storage facility was quite well in middle Gujarat with over 50 ripening chamber for banana and almost 200 cold storages. Banana and lime require ripening chamber and cold storage, while mango and papaya do not require cold storage and ripening chamber as both fruit can ripe in open condition or chemical treatment.
It is not always possible to wait for the fruit to ripen naturally. More often than not, they need to be transported over long distances and if they had been harvested in a ripe stage, they get spoilt before reaching their destination. For such situations, farmers harvest them much before they get ripe. The traders then ripen them artificially at the destination using certain chemicals. Most fruits produce a gaseous compound called ethylene that starts the ripening process. Its level in under-ripe fruit is very low, but as the fruits develop, they produce larger amounts of the chemical that speeds up the ripening process or the stage of ripening known as the “climacteric.”
In addition, industrial grade calcium carbide is often found contaminated with trace amounts of arsenic and phosphorus, which are toxic chemicals. The symptoms of arsenic and phosphorous poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea with/without blood, weakness, burning sensation in the chest and abdomen, thirst, problem in swallowing, burning of eyes, permanent eye damage, ulcers on the skin, mouth, nose and throat.
According to studies, calcium carbide can also affect the neurological system by inducing prolonged hypoxia. It causes symptoms like headache, dizziness, high sleepiness, memory loss, cerebral oedema, numbness in the legs and hands, general weakness, cold and damp skin, low blood pressure and seizure. Pregnant women particularly need to be very careful and should not consume such fruits and vegetables.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have banned calcium carbide under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954. Anyone using it can be imprisoned for three years along with a fine of Rs 1,000. However, no effective action plan has been devised to implement it and still local fruit traders are used carbide for early fruit ripening.
Post-harvest losses
Post-harvest losses at field level (farm level)
Table 1 shows farm level loss of major fruits cultivated in middle Gujarat that is banana, mango, papaya and lime. Results shows that average production of banana, mango, papaya and lime per ha was 863.80, 105.00, 810.97 and 540.00 q/ha respectively, where total damaged fruits was 6.59, 2.50, 2.30 and 1.01 per cent in banana, mango, papaya and lime respectively, causes of post-harvest loss on farm was found harvesting or mechanical injury in fruits which includes cracking of fruits and dropped fruits, other causes were immature or small fruits, black spotted fruit due to latex, diseased and pest infected fruits and other malformed fruits leads post-harvest loss, but most of quantity of this fruits were harvested in early maturation stage and good farming practices may lead to decrease the losses at farm level.
Murthy et al., (2007) also studied the post-harvest losses in banana and revealed that at field level, it was 5.53 per cent.
Kumari and Dhingra (2024) found that at national level post-harvest losses in banana, mango, papaya and lime were 5.17, 6.03, 3.77 and 5.53 per cent, respectively while carrying out farm operations. It is also important that if farmers use better harvesting techniques like mechanical harvesting and reduce the pre-maturation harvesting stages in fruits, then losses at farm level can be reduced and meanwhile farmers can observe increased yields and marketable surplus in fruits cultivation. The recent technological advancement, will help in reducing postharvest losses. Pre-cooling immediate after harvesting will delay or reduce microbial growth and extend the shelf life of fruits.
Post-harvest losses at wholesale level
Losses at wholesale level is quite high as compared to field level because after harvesting the fruits pass through village level suppliers as in case of banana or pre-harvest contractors as in case of mangoes and papaya and APMC wholesaler in lime supply chain. Where these fruits may grade and sorted again send it to long and short distance market as per demand from different markets, Table 2 shows post-harvest losses at wholesale level operations. Wholesale level packaging size varies in different fruit crop as banana packed in 20 kg crates, mango and papaya packed in 10 kg paper or wooden boxes and lime packed in plastic bags or gunny bags in 20 kg weight, so at wholesale level post-harvest losses are calculated through its packaging size. Results show that post-harvest loss in banana per crate was 7.23 per cent and major causes of loss handling and mechanical injury during transportation (2.10%), followed by pressed damage in vehicles (3.00%), over ripened fruits (1.25%) and disease infected fruit (0.90%), while in mango total loss was 8.85 per cent and causes of post-harvest losses included 4.00 per cent in mechanical injury, 2.50 per cent in pressed damage and almost 1 per cent due to over ripened and disease infected fruits. In case of Papaya, total post-harvest loss at wholesale level was 9.58 per cent out of which almost 4 per cent is lost at the time of handling and pressed damage while transportation and 1 per cent each is lost due to over ripening and diseased fruits. In case of lime total post-harvest loss was relatively low as compared to other fruit crops which is 2.03 per cent because lime was green and not much ripened at wholesale level, causes of post-harvest loss were only mechanical injury and disease infected fruits.
Murthy et al., (2007) also revealed that at wholesale level, post-harvest losses in banana was 6.65 per cent, which was similar to the findings of the study. The use of rapid and temperature controlled logistic at wholesale level and proper packaging material will improve the shelf life of fruits and reduce the post-harvest loss that occurs during transportation.
Post-harvest losses at retail level
It was found that at retail level post-harvest losses was quite high in mango and papaya because both are seasonal fruit crops and while season changed quality of both fruits deteriorate fast, whereas in banana and lime that seasonal effect was low because both fruits are available round the year. Table 3 shows post-harvest loss and causes of post-harvest losses in different fruit crop at retail level, highest loss at retail level found in papaya which was 8.70 per cent followed by mango 8.09 per cent, banana 4.41 per cent and lime 2.70 per cent. Major causes of post-harvest loss found at retail level were over ripened fruits which were not sold to consumers. It was noticed that when fruits came out with cold storage and chemical treatment for ripening it had only few days to sold out otherwise fruits leads to over ripening and deteriorate the quality of fruits and it remains unsold to consumers and at end those fruits in dustbin. The over ripened fruits accounted for 2.50 per cent loss in banana, 3.35 per cent loss in mango, 5.20 per cent loss in papaya, whereas mechanical injury or handling injury due to transportation led to 1.90 per cent loss in banana, 4.75 per cent loss in mango, 3.50 per cent loss in papaya and 2.70 per cent loss in lime.
Murthy et al., (2007) found that at retail level, post-harvest losses in banana was 16.66 per cent which was much higher.
Overall post harvest losses in selected fruits in middle gujarat
Table 4 depicts the post-harvest losses in supply chain of banana at different levels. It was found that post-harvest losses were higher at wholesaler level (7.23%). At producer’s level PHL was 6.59 per cent and retailer’s level it was 4.41 per cent. In lime PHL was higher at retail level (2.70%) and producers’ level PHL was very low (1.01%). The post-harvest loss in supply chain of mango was higher at retail level (8.09%), followed by pre-harvest contractor (4.50%), wholesaler level (4.35%) and at producers’ level (2.50%). In papaya post-harvest loss in supply chain was higher at wholesaler level (9.58%) and at producers’ level it was very low (2.30%). The total post-harvest losses in banana, mango, lime and papaya were 18.23, 19.44, 5.74 and 20.58 per cent, respectively. Kumari and Dhingra (2024) also found that total post-harvest losses at national level in banana, mango, papaya and lime were 12.8, 14.6, 10.4 and 13.3 per cent respectively.
The ongoing analysis highlights the scope of using the infrastructure facilities like cold storage structure, ripening centres, pack house
etc. at all levels. the harvesting losses and grading/sorting losses can be minimized by doing machine harvesting and mechanical grading/sorting. Use of technological advancement like, different applications that shows the prices of commodities and various e-commerce platforms that provide direct marketing facilities to the farmers and consumers.
Being a highly perishable fruit, banana needs proper infrastructural facilities and backward and forward linkages to avoid PHL. Good transportation facility like refrigerated trucks for transfer of produce to distant places and its quality distribution in another major area of great concern specially to boost up the export of fruit, since the major share of marketing cost is spent on transportation. The development of cold chain network throughout the supply chain will help in reduction of PHL. Due to lack of these facilities at every end the volume and quality of produce is greatly affected.
Suggestions
There is need to strengthen post-harvest management with the use of existing advanced technology and need to spread awareness regarding post-harvest management practices so more farmers can take benefit of it.
There is need to use machine harvesting and grading to reduce the losses that occurs during harvesting and grading. Incorporation of value chain in existing supply chain of fruits to increase the shelf life of the fruits.
Need to strengthen the existing supply chain in the study area by vertical and horizontal integration with use of existing storage and proper packaging material which ultimately reduces the post-harvest losses that occurs while handling of the product.
Middle Gujarat area having processing units but they are less in numbers, so to reduce the losses and increase the shelf life, there is need to establish more processing units with the help of government subsidies.
The standard pre and post-harvest management practices is established by scientific research. But, the awareness and adoption rate of technology for post-harvest management of fruits in the study area have considerable gap at the field level. So there is need to spread awareness and disseminate these standard technologies so majority farmers in the study area can take benefit of it.
Presently, Middle Gujarat has a good basic infrastructure like roads, processing industries, communication, etc., for adequate post-harvest management of fruits but need to be strengthen in the study area. There is need of refrigerated transport facility and storage facility to overcome the handling losses. The use of different digital tools for communication, digital tools to check perishability of the product, use of tracking device while transportation will reduce the post-harvest losses and strengthen the supply chain.
Strengthening and scaling up of the packaging is needed. Designing and manufacture of good quality and affordable packaging materials for perishable are the need of the time.
Recent era is of mechanization, where low-cost and efficient technology is available for storage, handling, harvesting, packaging and value addition. Development of appropriate training manual by experts and conduction of training by extension specialist of post-harvest management including harvesting, grading, sorting, packaging, transportation, storage (conventional and modern), processing and nutrition is needed.
Development of value chain in existing supply chain of fruits to extend the shelf life and proper low-cost technology like, precooling immediately after harvesting minimize the losses that occurs at field level.
