Question

What are some internal and external factors that cause farming losses and what can be done to avoid them

Answer 1

Internal factors of farming:-

Harvesting:-

Time is determined by degree of crop maturity and weather conditions

• Primary causes of losses include
• Lack of maturity index for some commodities.
• Poor weather affects the operations and functionalities.

Pre cooling:-

High cost of lack of availability of pre cooling facilities.

Lack of information on cost benefits of pre cooling technology.

Transportation:-

Poor infrastructure and lack of appropriate transport system are the main issues.

Storage:-

Lack of facilities, hygiene and monitoring data effective for long term storage.

Grading:-

Proper packing and packaging technologies are very essential to minimize mechanical injuries.

Packaging and labelling:-

After harvest fresh fruits and vegetables are transported from the farm to the distrbution centers after proper labelling and packaging.

Chemicals:-

Constituents present in the farm products causes loss of nutritional value,colour flavor, texture etc.

External factors:-

Environmental factors like wind, humidity, rainfall and temperature which affects both quantity and quality of crops.

Temperature:-

Greater the temperature shorter is the life span of agricultural products which leads to the loss of quality.

Humidity:-

Fresh agricultural products have high moisture content and they need to be stored under conditions of high moisture loss.

Altitude:-

Storing agricultural products at high altitudes will increase storage life and increase product losses.

Time:-

Longer the time, of the product storage greater is the chance of damage and loss.

Strategies to avoid losses:-

• Harvesting is the most important phase by which these losses can be controlled.
• If the harvesting operations are correctly under taken, there is a greater scope for later prevention of product loss.
• Careful digging and movement of fruits and tubers can significantly reduce harvest losses.
• Packaging of roots can minimize deterioration of roots.
• Careful selection of packaging materials such as natural and synthetic fibres of sacks and bags.
• Careful selection of top quality roots and tubers.
• Careful handling to avoid diseases and handle pest..