Post-Harvest Losses and Value Addition of Grapes in India

Grape (Vitis vinifera) is one of the major fruit crops grown in India and accounted for about 2.5 percent of total fruit production. A substantial quantity of production is subjected to post-harvest loss at various stages of marketing. The quantum of loss is influenced by several factors like extent of perishability, method of harvesting, packing and transportation etc. Grape being a high value commercial crop, any loss could result in significant revenue loss and deprives its availability to a large population and causes huge economic loss to the nation. Another area of research in marketing and post-harvest losses of grapes which requires more attention is the estimation procedures of marketing margins and marketing costs. The present procedure for estimating the marketing margins and marketing costs do not explicitly include the losses during marketing as a separate item, which could significantly alter the profit margins. An attempt is made to develop a methodology for quantifying the post-harvest losses in physical and value terms at various stages of marketing. Further, the extent of impact of post-harvest losses on producers' net share, marketing margins and marketin