Post-harvest loss assessment of custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) in Andhra Pradesh: A case study

Introduction

India with the adoption of Green revolution achieved selfsufficiency in food grain production and also surged impressively in fruit and vegetable production too making the country known as 'fruit and vegetable basket' of the world. India, the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, has registered a growth in area under horticulture of about 3.8% per annum and production by 7.6% per annum over the last decade (Pathak and Mathukia, 2018) [4] . There are about 30 to 40 fruit crops under cultivation in India. Among dryland fruit crops, grown, Custard apple known as sitaphal or sugar apple is frenzied in many states of the country due to increased demand for its delicious fruit. Custard apple is mostly cultivated in states of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Tamil Nadu. Though the crop is mostly seen in forest areas of majority states, regular orcharding is increasing at a faster rate. The area and production of custard apple increased significantly from 18,500 ha and 1.27 lakh tonnes during 2011-12 to 48,500 ha and 4.05 lakh tonnes during 2017-18 in India (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, 2018) [2] . The fruits of custard apple are very delicious but at the same time delicate and highly perishable. Being climacteric in nature, the fruits after harvest ripen quickly and become excessively soft within 2-3 days after harvest under ambient conditions and become unfit for consumption. A study on post-harvest management of custard apple in Gujarat indicated 13-25% loss at different stages of fruits handling (Jethva et al. 2014) [1] .

In Andhra Pradesh (A.P), custard apple is grown in an area of 2,026 ha with an annual production of 13,058 metric tonnes. Though the regular orcharding is less in A.P, considerable quantity of fruits will come from forest and agency areas. The post-harvest losses of custard apple are of normal phenomenon rather than exception in A.P also. The losses occur at various stages of fruit harvesting, transport and marketing. The post-harvest losses not only reduce the per capita availability of fruits but also result in increase in per unit cost of production and marketing. This affects the monetary returns of both producers and consumers. Keeping the above facts in view, the study was conducted with an objective to estimate the post-harvest losses at different stages of handling (harvest, packing, transport and marketing) of custard apple fruits in A.P.

Methodology:

The multi-stage purposive random sampling technique (Sreenivasa Murthy et al. 2009 and Sudharshan et al. 2013) [5,6] was used for the selection of study area and sampling units and for estimation of post-harvest losses in custard apple at farm level, wholesale and retail markets. Anantapuramu and Chittoor districts were selected as they are the major producers of custard apple in A.P. For selection of villages and mandals in each district, the major custard apple growing areas, assembly markets/wholesale markets and retail markets in the production and consumption centres were identified. The data related to quantity of fruits harvested, sold and marketed at different stages of handling were collected through personal interview by using a pre-structured questionnaire. The sampling structure for estimation of post-harvest loss (PHL) in custard apple is presented in Table -

Techniques for data analysis

The different functionaries involved in marketing of custard apple viz., producers, wholesalers and retailers were identified to examine the post-harvest losses at farm level, transportation, wholesalers/mandi level and retailer's level.

The simple averages and percentages were used to calculate the post-harvest losses at different stages of fruit handling.

Results and Discussion Harvesting, packing and transportation

The details of harvesting, packing and transportation of custard apple fruits at farm level, wholesale markets/mandis and retail markets were collected and presented in Table-2. Total discarded fruits --307.00 8.87

The data presented in Table-5 indicated that the loss of custard apple fruits due to improper handling was 56.0 kg (1.62%), damage due to poor packing, pressing and transport was 188.0 kg (5.43%) and spoilage due to disease /pest/rotten was 63.0 kg (1.82%). The overall fruit loss of 307.0 kg (8.87%) out of 3,460.0 kg handled was recorded at wholesale/mandi level in Anantapuramu and Chittoor districts.

At retail market level

It is evident from the Table-6 and 7 that post-harvest losses of custard apple fruits at retail markets in Anantapuramu and Chittoor districts were 15.19 and 11.72 per cent, respectively. The maximum quantity of fruit loss was occurred due to improper packing which leads to pressing and bruising of fruits and also due to damage during transport in Anantapuramu (14.0 kg = 9.09%) and Chittoor (15.0 kg = 6.82%) districts of A.P. [7] reported an aggregate post-harvest loss of pomegranate from orchards to consumers ranged from 25.48 per cent in Bangalore market to 38.44 per cent in Mangalore market. Moula Sab et al.

(2017) [3] reported 34.49 per cent of overall post-harvest losses in mango at different stages from harvesting to consumption.

References

1. Jethva KR, Kukadiya VD, Balasara VD, Gadher AK. Post-harvest handling of custard apple in Panchmahal district of Gujarat. Conference paper published during February, 2014, Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat.
2. Moula Sab, Ashok MB, Sudhakara SN. Estimation of post-harvest losses of mangoes at different stages from harvesting to consumption. Int J Curr Microbiol Appl Sci. 2017;6(12):310-318.
3. Pathak AR, Mathukia RK. Intensification and diversification in agriculture for doubling farmer's income. Sodh Chintan. 2018;10:1-12.
4. Sreenivasa Murthy D, Gajanana TM, Sudha M, Dakshinamoorthy V. Marketing and post-harvest losses in fruits: its implication on availability and economy. Indian J Agric Econ. 2009;64(2):259-275.
5. Sudharshan GM, Anand MB, Sudulaimattu. Marketing & post-harvest losses in fruits -Its implication on availability & economy -A study on pomegranate in Karnataka. Int J Manag Soc Sci Res. 2013;2(7):34-43.
6. Sudarshan V, Hussain N, Gahine R, Mourya J. Colorectal cancer in young adults in a tertiary care hospital in Chhattisgarh, Raipur. Indian journal of cancer. 2013 Oct 1;50(4):337-340.