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Identification of Appropriate Postharvest Technologies for Improving Market Access and Incomes for Small Horticultural Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Commodity System Assessment Methodology (CSAM)

Okra in Uttar Pradesh (India)

Component 01 : Relative Importance of Crop Okra, or Ladies finger, which is also known as ‘Bhindi ', is one of the important vegetables of India. It is grown throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions and also in the warmer parts of the temperate regions. It belongs to the family Malvaceae. The fruits are green to dark green, long conical and ridged. Okra contains moderate levels of Vitamin A and C. Its known varieties are : Kamini, Pusa Sawani, Pusa Makhamali, Perkin’s Long Green (for hills only). Okra is grown commercially In India and ranks first in the world with 4193 thousand MT (70% of the total world production) of Okra produced from over 409 thousand Ha land (NHB-2008). The major okra producing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In West Bengal, 0.662 MT of Okra is produced from 58,400 ha with an average productivity of 11.4 MT/ha.

Total area under cultivation of Okra

(in 000’HA)

Production (in 000’MT)

Productivity (in MT/HA)

India 409.0 4192.8 10.3

Uttar Pradesh 9.2 102.1 11.1

The present study was conducted at Nekpur, Muradnagar, Lucknow and Barola and varieties included in the study viz. F1 Hybrid, S 152. There is good export potential for Okra in countries like United Kingdom, Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong.

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Component 02 : Public sector Policies Market information comes from the public and private sector sources. The information of the public sector is well organized whereas private sector market information flows are scattered and come through some daily newspapers. Directorate of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) and Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) publish the wholesale and retail rates of Okra in the daily newspapers. Component 03 : Relevant Institutions There are a number of institutions responsible for planning, production system, processing of product, marketing of crop and research. The relevant institutions are :

a) Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh b) State Agricultural Universities d) Division of Vegetable crops and Floriculture, Indian Agricultural Research

Institute (IARI) f) Project Directorate of Vegetable Research, Indian Council of Agricultural

Research.

These institutions are related to research, production, processing and marketing. Component 04 : Facilitating Services

Transport services are easily accessible and the roads are more or less acceptable. For distant transportation, the most favored vehicle is truck. The produce is transported in gunny bags by bullock carts and tractor trolleys travelling up to a distance of 20 km

Component 05 : Producer, Shipper organizations

By and large co-operative societies are non-existent. Attempts are being made by both public and private bodies to set up cooperative societies but the success rate is far from satisfactory.

The Cooperative society at Kharkkoda, Hapur, Dist. Bulandsahar is functional and expects to develop further and provide post harvest handling and other services.

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Component 06 : Environmental Conditions

The optimum growing condition for okra is :

All types of soil : fertile, well drained, high in organic matter except light sandy soil

pH – 6.0 -6.5

temperature range at which crop does well is 24°C - 30°C

the humidity range is : 80 - 85per cent.

Seeds are soaked overnight in water before sowing for good germination

Sowing is done by ridge or flat sowing

Flat sowing is down in rows 45 cm apart

Seedling are transplanted when they reach a height of 10-15 cm.

The soils are kept moist by regular watering – soaking the soil, not the plant

Weeds and grass close to the plant are removed by hand.

Fruits are picked up when 3-4 inches long and still tender Component 07 : Availability of Planting Materials Adequate quality seeds are available from Burf Khana, Old Subzi Mandi, Delhi and also from local shop keepers in the town. Local and high-yielding-variety seeds are purchased by the farmer.

To meet the seed replacement rate, foundation seeds are produced in government and university farms. Whereas, certified seeds are produced in the farmer’s field in collaboration with National/State Horticulture Mission. Component 08 : Farmers’ General Cultural Practices

Fertilization practices, irrigation and weed control practices have significant effect on produce quality.

The irrigation is also not assured due to irregular electricity (power) supply and sometime there is water stress which affect quality.

Irrigation is generally done at an interval of 6 days. During fertilizer application, potassium is generally not applied which affects the

quality of the produce. Pendimethalin, as a weedicide, is commonly used for weed control.

Component 09: Pests and Diseases

Weeds, insects, pests and viruses and fungi affect the quality of produce. Fading of green colour and no fruit setting was noticed in virus affected plants.

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Shoot and Fruit borer, White fly, Powdery mildew, Fusarium Wilt and Yellow Vein Mosaic Virus were observed in the standing crop in the field.

Component 10: Pre-harvest treatments About 6 to 8 sprays of insecticides and pesticides are done per

month which affect postharvest quality. Locally available cheap and poor quality products with local

names like Apollo, Shriram Gold, Helper, Bioras, Superkiller were seen at farm for spraying Endosulphan and Monocrotophos were applied to control white fly and other pests and disease as given above.

Component 11: Production and Marketing cost Total cost of production ranges from Rs.40000/- to 45000/- per acre as informed

by the farmers Farmers’ net income = Total output - Total input

Rs.101250 – Rs.64770 = Rs. 46480 per acre Component 12: Crop harvest Produce is harvested by hand picking after

wearing cotton gloves to avoid skin allergy by

the farmer and his family/male and female

hired laborers between 8 to 10 am to avoid

sun heat.

Okra fruit was harvested manually at proper maturity and were collected in cloth bags tied around left side of back.

First picking is done after 45 days of sowing and subsequently at 3 to 4 days’ gap and it goes upto 6 months

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Component 13: Selection, Sizing, Grading and Inspection Produce is sorted by farmer and value/ price changes

based on grading. Grade ‘A’ produce was sold @ Rs.14/ kg and grade ‘B’ @

Rs. 7/kg . No standards exist for inspection. Culled/damaged produce is thrown away on wasteland

near the field and also on roadside which is eaten by stray animals

Grading and sorting is also done by traders/intermediaries

Component 14: Postharvest chemical and physical treatments Okra, fruit-filled gunny bags are dunked in a water tank to avoid moisture loss and, in

addition, it has the advantage of evaporative cooling during transport to the retail market in an open rickshaw pulled cart.

Component 15: Packaging Produce is packed in 40 kg capacity gunny bags for

transport and storage. Use of gunny bags is most common: baskets/plastic

bags are also used alternatively. Use of gunny bags is in practice for quite a long time

and due to flexible nature of okra not much damage is noticed.

The gunny bags can be reused.

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Component 16: Cooling In peri-urban area okra is immersed in small water tank immediately after harvest In other areas as such no cooling is practiced; however the whole bag of Okra is

kept wet by sprinkling water frequently. The lowest temperature that can be achieved is wet-bulb temperature

Component 17: Storage After packaging, the produce is sent to the wholesale/retail market For the evening retail markets, okra is harvested before noon and stored in wet gunny

bags kept under shade. No storage facility was available at any of the sites visited. Only low cost storage

facilities can be adopted. Ambient condition prevails for packaging, temperature, RH, physical setting, hygiene

etc. Produce is stored in gunny bags in the wholesale market at room temperature under

shade. After auction, the gunny bags are transported to retail market.

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Component 18: Transport

Produce is transported in gunny bags by bullock carts, Jugad & tractor trolleys covering a distance upto 20 km from farm to local mandis.

The produce is transported to various wholesale markets in towns and cities in mini-trucks (Tata 407) covering a distance upto 200 km.

Produce is loaded and unloaded manually. (peri-urban growers negotiate directly with the retailers who have their own method of deciding on per kg. price of the produce. The retailer brings his own gunny bags and transport and before the produce is put in gunny bags sorting is done and unmarketable produce is thrown out which is consumed by stray animals. In this process, the grower is able to circumvent the intermediaries completely and gets a good price for the produce.)

Component 19: Delays or waiting

For the sale of the produce in the local market there is no delay or waiting however, the produce that has to be transported to the wholesale market , there may be a waiting period from the time of the arrival of the produce and purchase by the retailer which may vary from 10-12 hrs.

Component 20: Other operations Growers have access to credit by Banks but they do not opt for any loan from an

organized banking system because of various technical formalities and various hassles that the farmers have to face.

Supporting infrastructure is adequate. Sufficient labor is available for handling and other operations. Component 21: Agro-processing The produce from the markets visited was not used for any processing although

okra has multiple industrial applications.

Component 22: Marketing intermediaries The peri-urban farmers, as mentioned above are able to sell the produce directly to

the retailers thus, circumventing the intermediaries completely however, farmers located in the interior, at places not easily accessible to the retailers, the produce goes through the usual process of intermediaries in the form of traders, forwarding agents, commission agents and wholesalers.

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Component 23: Market information There is no specific marketing strategy/planning as informed by the farmers except

that the peri-urban farmers have a full knowledge of the prevailing retail price of the produce hence, they are able to bargain at the time of selling the produce to the retailer.

Component 24: Consumer demand Consumers have specific preference for fresh, small sized, easy to finger press,

easily breakable at the tip and devoid of any visible damage/ deformity/presence of pest.

Consumers do not enquire about any pre- or postharvest treatments. Component 25: Exports

None of the farmers /wholesalers contacted, informed about export of okra from the farms/mandis visited.

Component 26: Postharvest and Marketing costs Total marketing costs for Okra crop ranges between Rs. 40,000/- to 45,000/- and

income from Rs. 80,000/- to 90,000/- and a net profit of Rs.40,000/- to 50,000/- to small and marginal farmer especially in peri-urban areas.

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