By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : India is losing food items worth a whopping Rs 50,000 crore every year due to poor post-harvest handling of farm produce, a development that analysts say may jeopardise the Centre’s plan to formulate a food security law, especially in view of a “below-normal” monsoon.
“The level of wastage of agricultural food items is estimated to be about Rs 50,000 crore (a year), occurring at various stages of handling after harvesting,” Food Processing Minister Subodh Kant Sahai said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) today.(One Crore: ten million)
The minister blamed “fragmented farming, provisions in the Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development & Regulation) Act, lack of cold chain facilities, transportation, proper storage and processing facilities” for the losses.