Assessment of post-harvest losses in banana under Jalgaon condition, in Maharashtra

Post harvest losses of fresh produce is a major challenge in the post harvest sector. Banana fruits are the most perishable agricultural produces facing a tremendous loss from harvest to consumption. The present investigation was undertaken to assess post harvest losses (at farm level, transport level, wholesale market level, storage and ripening level and retail level) in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra with 100 farmers since 2018 to 2019. The four banana growing tahsils selected for survey were Raver, Muktainagar, Yawal and Chopda. The variety grown was Grand Nain. The results revealed that, the overall post-harvest losses in banana comprised of (6.81%) loss at field level, (3.90%) loss during transport. The minimum (1.56%) post harvest losses in banana were recorded during assembly market/ wholesale market. The losses to were recorded during storage and ripening was (3.40%). The highest loss (14.12%) was observed at retailer level. The major problems of the post-harvest losses of banana fruits were due to faulty handling, lack of packaging techniques, transport facilities, lack of cold storage facilities. The results have emphasized that efforts should be made to adopt scientific method of handling improved packaging techniques, cushioning material & cold storage facilities at the retail level for minimizing the post harvest losses in Banana.