Post-harvest economic losses of tomato crop grown in Peshawar valley.

摘要

The study was conducted in order to estimate the post-harvest losses of tomato crop grown in Peshawar during Kharif 2002. It was observed that most of respondents (54%) hold area up to 2.5 acres followed by 2.6-5 acres and above 5 acres holdings respectively, by above 24% and 22%, beside this on the average, the area farmers allocated 1.37 acres to tomato crop. Most of the farmers in the research area (79%) grew Shimla variety while the remaining (21%) cultivated Grifton variety of tomato. It was observed that 79% farmers picked tomato crop in morning, 16% in the evening and 4% in the afternoon. Data regarding transportation of the produce showed that 57% of the respondents transported their produce to the outside market while the remaining 43% farmers brought their produce to local market for sale. In addition to this, 63% respondents used wooden Crates and the remaining 37% used baskets as a packaging material. Of the total respondents, 84% were having no knowledge while the remaining 16% knew about tomato processing (10% for ketchup, 3% for drying and sauce). The post harvest losses of tomato crop in Peshawar valley was estimated 20% of the total production. These losses occur mostly during picking, handling and transportation..