Of Farm produce wasted

Ever wondered how much food — grains, fruits and vegetables — are wasted? A recent study undertaken by Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), a governmentrun institute, has estimated that it could be of the order of Rs 44,000 crore. But that was at 2009 prices. With food prices rising at double-digit rates for the past two years, officials now put that number at close to Rs 50,000 crore annually, if not more. So, losses from farm sector would amount to just around 7% of the total produce, which was valued at Rs 7 lakh crore in the GDP estimates for 2010-11. Officials are trying to look at the brighter side of the story — saying wastage is much lower than the oft-stated 40% level. Although cereals, such as wheat and rice, pulses and oil seeds accounted for around twothirds of the wastage, the loss in case of fruits and vegetables was the highest at up to 18% of the total produce. If the government chooses to spend more on creation of storage and processing facilities —something it has been talking about for years — this level could come down significantly. In recent months, it is repeated price shocks in case of fruits and vegetables that has upset housewives’ monthly calculations. Of the Rs 50,000 crore lost, around Rs 33,000 crore was accounted for by cereals, pulses and oil seeds. In case of cereals and pulses, losses were estimated at 4-6%, while wastage in case of oilseeds went as high as 10%. In case of milk the losses were estimated at 0.8%, while for meat and poultry it was 2.3% and 3.7%, respectively. The losses take place in almost all stages of farming but the study looked at harvesting, collection, grading, cleaning, packaging, transportation and storage. If cultivation was also included the loss would figure would be much higher. While the figure is appalling, the government officials said that availability of better technology and their adoption has brought about a reduction in losses.