eChapters

The vulnerability of agriculture to climate change has become an important issue resulting in reduced productivity due to adverse climatic changes. The overall purpose is to assess farming systems change to enable adaptation to climate change. It deals with the predicted climate change scenarios and the adaptations necessary to reduce climate change impacts and examines improvement of indigenous breeds for adaptation to climate change. It also explores the use of crop modeling as avenues to address adaptations of crop production systems and draws the recommendations to outlines of future research needs.

Although the adverse effects of climate change are likely to be borne disproportionately by the small farmers of the developing world, it is the integrated farming systems with their high degree of biodiversity which are best equipped to withstand the shocks of climatic extremes. Apart from the landless and urban poor, small farmers are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the developing world. It is obvious that climate-related environmental stresses are likely to affect individual households differently compared to more market-oriented farmers. The climate change reduces crop yields. The effects on the welfare of subsistence farming families may be quite severe, especially if the subsistence component of productivity is reduced. Changes in quality and quantity of production may affect the labour productivity of the farmer and negatively influence his/her family health(Rosenzweig and Hillel 1998).

Organic farming primarily aimed at cultivating the land and raising crops in such a way so as to keep the soil alive and in good health by use of organic wastes and beneficial microbes. Organic farming is performed with an intension for maintaining diversity of crops, keeping soil healthy for future years, producing high quality products and recycling nutrients. Unlike modern agriculture, organic farming is not depended on synthetic chemicals. Instead, it depends on natural products to boost soil fertility through microbial activity. Organic farming uses a multiple cropping system, which benefits from growing several crops. This crop diversity supports a range of plants, insects, soil micro-organisms and animals that add to a healthy farming system. Organic farmings are of different types such as bio-farming, nature farming, eco-farming and biodynamic farming. Organic agriculture is developed with concented efforts by various people to create the symbiotic relationship between the nature and man. In the present day, organic agriculture has shown potentiality in commercial, social and environmental sector.

Organic farming is a production management system, which promotes agro-ecosystem and agrobiodiversity. The objective of organic farming is to generate all the required plant nutrients inside the farm and adopt crop protection using local resources. Organic farming emphasizes on the use of farm yard manure, crop residues, composts, vermi-compost and bio-fertilizers to enrich soil fertility and use of bio-control measures to manage insect and diseases. In particular, organic agriculture is intended to produce high quality, nutritious food which helps in preventive health care. Organic farming increases biodiversity at every level i.e. from micro-organism to mammals. It strengthens biodiversity by using bio-pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.

Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies in which woody perennials including trees, shrubs, bamboos etc. are deliberately combined on the same land-management unit with herbaceous crops or animals either in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agroforestry system there are both ecological and economic interactions amongst the different components (Lundgren and Raintree, 1982). The origin of agroforestry practices, i.e. growing trees with food crops and grasses, is believed to have been during Vedic era (Ancient period, 1000 B.C.), the agro-forestry as a science is introduced only recently. Agro-forestry is the science of designing and developing integrated, self-sustainable, land-management systems that involves the introduction and retention of woody components such as trees, shrubs, bamboos, canes and palms along with agricultural crops including pastures or animals, simultaneously or sequentially on the same unit of land and time, to satisfy the ecological as well as socio-economic needs of people. This practice of growing trees and arable crops together on the same piece of land is an age-old practice with the dry land farmers. Agroforestry results in multiple products, increases income, reduces runoff and soil loss, utilizes off-season rainfall and radiation and gives stability to dry land agriculture. Further it makes the future generation farmers to inherit not only the land of their predecessors, but also the wealth of standing biomass of trees.

National Forest Policy (1988) has set a goal that 33% of the country’s geographical area should be under forest and tree cover. Under Tenth Five Year Plan, the Government of India has set a target to increase the country’s forest cover up to 25%. According to the latest report of Forest Survey of India (2013), the forest cover in the country is 697,898 km², constituting 21.23% of its total geographical area. Out of this, dense forest constitutes 12.24 % and open forest 8.99 %. The only solution to achieve these targets is through the practice of agroforestry. Therefore, in the quest of optimising productivity, the multi-tier system came into existence.

Introduction

Poultry farming is an emerging activity for enhancing nutrition and providing livelihood support to the farmers of this country. Since two decades, this component emerge as the fastest growing segment of agriculture where the broiler segment having a growth rate of more than 10% and the egg production 5-6% per year. As per the report by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, India has one of the world’s largest and fastest growing poultry, ranked third in egg production (FAOSTAT) and sixth in broiler meat production. Poultry farming is lucrative because there is minimum investment to start, rapid return, high feed conversion ratio and provides continuous source of income for the farm.

Introduction

Agriculture accounts for a large share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exports, and employs more than 60% of the work force in India (FAO, 2001). The failure or success of agriculture determines the economic growth of the country. As human population grows so does the demand for food and, therefore, demand for land to grow food. Ironically, the demand to convert agricultural land to commercial and residential developments is also very high due to population growth and urbanization. This is reducing the amount of land available for agricultural purpose. This scenario is being noticed in most of the developing countries like India. Against this background, agriculture will be expected to meet food, feed, and fiber demands of a world population that is anticipated to grow from approximately 6 billion in 1999 to 11 billion by 2050 (USDA, 2010). Small and fragmented land holdings do not allow farmers to have independent farm resources like draught animals, tractors, bore wells, tube wells and other sophisticated farm machineries for various cultural operations. While crop production is the primary farming enterprise in the country, livestock raising serves as an auxiliary activity to crop production. About 90% of livestock population are in the hands of the smallholders where adequate supply of high quality forage is a common problem. Integrated farming system (IFS) models developed in different parts of the country involving dairy, duckery, poultry, horticulture, apiary, pisciculture and plantation crops viz. coconut, cocoa, nutmeg, banana, pineapple etc. along with crops, have been found to increase net profit significantly as compared to cropping alone.

Today the world is facing a variety of interrelated problems such as food production, energy use, pollution, unemployment and urbanization, mainly because the developmental strategies contravene the basic philosophy of ecology. The world ecosystem is becoming increasingly more unstable through an ever growing dependence on finite resources of fossil fuels. Food production system in developed countries, both terrestrial agriculture and fisheries are energy intensive and are thus, not entirely suitable for developing countries. An alternative strategy to an increasing reliance on fossil for agriculture development should depend on locally available sources of renewable energy and resources. A significant effect could be made through recycling organic wastes into fish. Organic wastes can be recycled in ecologically sound pond based systems fueled by solar energy. The reuse of wastes would safeguard the environment from pollution and lead to a reduction in diseases of insanitation. Recycling of animal wastes is the cheapest way of protein production by reducing cost of production. Fish farming in Europe, Israel and USA is energy intensive, since more farmers use commercially prepared feed formulations which resulted in cost to feed often exceeding 50% of the total operating costs.

In recycling of waste through fish culture, fish is considered to have a great potential to change raw protein into high energetic edible protein. The rationale behind raising fish on organic manure is that about 72.98% of the nitrogen, 62.87% of phosphorus and 82.92% of potassium in the feed rations fed to animals are recovered in their excreta. In most of the world, cereals and legumes account for most of the proteins and calories consumed, but fish produced cheaply by recycling wastes would provide a low energy way to produce an animal product and diversify the diet. Fish, being the cheap source of animal protein is now widely accepted to meet the persistent and widespread malnutrition in developing countries.

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector in the world with annual growth in excess of 10% over the last two decades. Much of this development has occurred in Asia, which also has the greatest variety of cultured species and systems. Asia is also perceived as the ‘home’ of aquaculture, as aquaculture has a long history in several regions and knowledge of traditional systems and is most widespread.

Introduction

Since times immemorial, world agriculture is following the traditional agri-horticultural methods for livelihood support. With unusual growth of population and faster development of industrial sector, a steep competition surfaced among the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors for land, water and other natural resources. Though agriculture uses a major chunk of land and water for crop production, it becomes insufficient to provide food, nutritional and aesthetic security to the growing millions at global level in general and the third world nations in particular. Hence, there lies a need to take the avenue of Integrated Farming practices by following the logics of Precision Farming. All over the world, farmers work hard but do not make money, especially small farmers because there is very little left after they pay for all inputs (seeds, livestock breeds, fertilizers, pesticides, energy, feed, labour, etc.). The emergence of Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) based on horticulture farming could help to develop a framework for an alternative development model to improve the feasibility of small sized farming operations in relation to larger ones. Integrated farming system (or integrated agriculture) is a commonly and broadly used word to explain a more integrated approach to farming as compared to monoculture approaches.

Indian agriculture is characterized by small farm holdings. The average per capita land holding is speculated to squeeze to 0.10 ha by 2050. The proportion of marginal holdings is to swell more due to the growing population, inheritance laws of division of land and diversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes. But we need around 457 Mt food grains to feed our nation by 2050 as against the present level production of about 257 Mt. Significant changes are also taking place in domestic and international demand for crop products due to improvement in income and standard of living, fast urbanization, and changing life styles and food preference patterns. The food demand is projected to grow annually at 2.0 % for cereals as against 3-4 % for edible oils and pulses, 4-5% for milk and milk products, meat, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, sugar and gur. In contrast, association of emerging problems like declining per capita land availability, increasing nutritional insecurity, decrease in factor productivity, increasing risk with individual farm component, unsustainability of cropping systems and unwillingness of young farmers towards farming lead to an apprehension in achieving the target. Farming system which aims at long term productivity, profitability, recycling of resources and employment generation, comes out as a major strategy to tackle all such problems. In farming system, various components of farming are integrated based on the cardinal principles of minimizing the competition and maximizing the complementarity between the enterprises so as to improve productivity and profitability as well as resource conservation along with maintenance of the environment. A survey conducted by the AICRP on Integrated Farming Systems indicates existence of 19 predominant farming systems with majority (85%) as crop + livestock (Gangwar and Ravisankar, 2014). Crop dominant farming systems are existing in most of the states such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, North-East, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal while livestock dominant systems, are present in Rajasthan and Parts of Gujarat. West Bengal, parts of Odisha and Assam states have the fisheries as a major source of income to the existing farming systems. The scope for promotion of horticulture (fruit) based systems exists in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, parts of Uttar Pradesh and in Sikkim while plantation dominant systems, are available in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala. Further, the contribution of crop and livestock to gross income of existing farming systems in 732 marginal households in 30 districts of 20 states in various NARP zones of India indicates that in majority of the place crop component contributes more than 50 % while at few districts such as Samba (Jammu), Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Mehsana and Panchmahal (Gujarat), livestock component contributes either equally or more. Thus cropping systems play a pivotal role in most of the farming systems of India.

Introduction

Decision making is the most important aspect of any business and industry. Farming is a business and agriculture is also an industry. Hence, decision making plays an important role with regard to the problems concerning production of commodities. The main questions before the producer or the production manager are: (i) What to produce, (ii) How to produce, and (iii) How much to produce.

Linear programming (LP) is a modeling tool that can assist in the solution of many problems in agriculture. It is useful in selecting the best alternative from a number of available course of actions.

LP models are designed to “optimize” a specific objective criterion subject to a set of constraints. The quality of the resulting solution depends on the completeness of the model in representing the real system.

Introduction

Agriculture is a dynamic sector affected by rapid changes in environment and climate, technologies, development priorities, impact of changes in other sectors and social changes such as family structure, migration and international policies such as globalization and liberation. The Indian Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, with its package of improved seeds, farm technology, better irrigation and chemical fertilizers, was highly successful in meeting its primary objective of increasing crop yields and augmenting food supply. However, the Green Revolution as a development approach has not necessarily translated into benefits for the lower socioeconomic strata, particularly the rural poor and farm women, in terms of greater food security or greater economic opportunity. It has increased the need for cash incomes in rural households to cover the costs of technological inputs which has forced women to work as agricultural laborers and increased the need for unpaid female labor for farming tasks.

In the era of burgeoning population and shrinking natural resources integrated farming system may be the panacea. Integrated Farming system approach envisages the integration of agroforestry, horticulture, dairy, sheep and goat rearing, fishery, poultry, pigeon, biogas, mushroom, sericulture and by-product utilization of crops with the main goal of increasing the income and standard of living of small and marginal farmers. Integrated systems are about bringing crops and livestock into an interactive relationship with the expectation that together, as opposed to alone, they will generate positive effects on outcomes of interest, such as profitability overall productivity and conservation of nonrenewable resources. It is, however, much more than this. The “system” includes the environment, soil characteristics, landscape positions, genetics and ecology of plant and animals. It involves management practices, goals and lifestyles of humans, social constraints, economic opportunities, marketing strategies and externalities including energy supplies and costs and impacts of farm policies. Systems also reflect available natural resources and the impact on their use, wildlife issues, target and non-target plant and animal species, micro-organisms and indeed all of the definable and indefinable factors that ultimately interact to result in an outcome that is never constant. The aims of integrated farming system is to increase productivity, profitability, sustainability, balanced food, clean environment, recycling of available resources and income round the year. Besides we can also think for adoption of new technology, solving energy crises: fuel and fodder crises, avoiding deforestation, increasing employment generation by taking more than one component, input-output efficiency and enhancing opportunity for agriculture oriented industries as well as uplifting living standard of the farmers

Goat is the 1st domesticated animal in the ancient age and has been considered to be the Poor Man’s Cow Goat’s meat is lean & has low fat and the demand for goat’s meat is increasing, with rising prices. Goats usually give birth to twins & triplets. Goat is a multi functional animal and plays a significant role in the economy and nutrition of landless, small and marginal farmers in the country. Goat rearing is an enterprise which has been practiced by a large section of population in rural areas. It can efficiently survive on available shrubs and trees in adverse harsh environment in low fertility lands where no other crop can be grown. In pastoral and agricultural subsistence societies in India, goats are kept as a source of additional income for their meat, hair fiber, and dairy, or as a pet. Goats are also used in ceremonial feastings and for the payment of social dues. According to FAO (2008) goat milk production in India were 4 million metric tons, Bangladesh 2.16 million metric tons and the Sudan 1.47 million metric tons over much of the world. Goats are among the main meat-producing animals in India, whose meat (chevon) is one of the choicest meats and has huge domestic demand (Shalander Kumar, 2007). Goat rearing is an enterprise which has been practiced by a large section of population in rural areas. Goats can efficiently survive on available shrubs and trees in adverse harsh environment in low fertility lands where no other crop can be grown. (Oberoi et al., 199I) reported that in variable cost, expenditure on labour was the major component of cost and was 81% under goat farming.

Introduction

Three hundred million poor people in Asia depend on livestock for their livelihoods and there are opportunities for improvement in livestock related livelihoods due to the rapid and dynamic changes that the livestock sector in Asia is undergoing (Njuki et al. 2010). Piggery farming has been recognized as one of the profitable venture among the rural masses. This venture has proved to be one of the most important livelihood option. Generally the pigs are reared for pork, considering the increasing trend of pork consumers in India; Piggery farming will certainly take a industrial form of livelihood in India in future. There are more than 12.8 million pigs in our country, out of which approximately 14.5% are graded and of exotic variety. There are 120 pig breeding farms in the country whereas pigs of exotic breeds are maintained. China ranks first in the world in pig rearing where number is around 300 million or 1/3 of the world pig population.Pig production is basically an enterprise which is able to convert inedible or inferior quality food into the food rich in animal protein. Pig is considered a machine because they convert grain, pasture and other low quality feed into Pork which is used as human food (Rahman, 2008) . Despite the fact that pig rearing is a profitable enterprise most of the progressive farmers even today hesitate to adopt it due to prejudice sentiments in our society against pig farming. For many others there is religious taboo against pig. A majority of meat eaters also and cheap source of protein. Pork as a source of animal protein is gaining popularity in India and pork products will be in greater demands in years to come. The high carcass yield attracts the farmers because of the better returns within the shortest possible time. High fertility in pigs assumes income to the rearer round the year. To bring about improvement in the productivity of pork and other piggery products extensive crossbreeding programme has been taken up to develop animals of large size, better feed conversion efficiency, high dressing percentage and better quality pork. Pig keeping also contributes to socio-cultural obligations and risk diversification and converts existing resources and low value waste products into high-value animal source food for home consumption and/or sale (NEPED, 2008).

Lac insect is an insect of commercial importance like silk worm and honey bee. The silkworm produces silk, honeybee produces honey and wax whereas, lac insect produces three products namely resin, dye and wax of great commercial importance. The resin commonly called lac, is only one of animal origin and commercially available in the market as shellac or seed lac or as a button lac. The resin is in fact the hardened secretory product of lac insect secreted as a protective covering of an insect. Lac culture is one of the important sources of livelihood and rural economy for poor resource constraint people particularly inhabiting in forest and sub-forest areas. It is one of the important sources of livelihood security in many parts of the country in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, NE regions etc (Pal et al., 2007). It has also high potential for generating employment for both men and women in forest and sub-forest areas of the country. It is a very remunerative crop, paying high economic returns to the farmers and also foreign exchange for the country through its export.

India is endowed with 8118 kilometers of coastline and access to 5.3 lakh square kilometers of continental shelf to facilitate marine fishing.195210 kilometers long river and canal system, more than 6 million hectares of water bodies under reservoirs, ponds, Fish is an integral part of food and culture in India. Indian coastal region is rich in aquatic bio diversity with various identified fish species and also in aquatic resources. India with its vast and varied marine and inland resources stands third in world total fish production and second in inland fish production. India’s fish production has increased from 5.6 million tonne during 2000-2001 to 6.9 million tonne during 2006-2007. During the year 2006-07, the country witnessed foreign exchange of Rs.8363.53 crore through export of sea food. Fish processing industries in India are gaining importance in recent years due to increase in demand of processed food by the developed countries. In India fishery sector provide livelihood to an estimated 10 million people and the Inland fisheries are of particular importance to the rural poor accounting for about 15% of total global employment (FAO, 2000). Sustainable utilization of available resources with appropriate farming system approaches will increase fish production and also will generate employment opportunities.

Amongst agricultural commodities milk is the single largest contributor to gross value of output followed by paddy, wheat, oilseeds, pulse and sugar. It is not only that, milk is also least contributor to inflation.Thus it can be said that milk is the lifeline of Indian economy. Unlike developed countries, unique feature of Indian milk production system is that about 70% of it is produced in about 70 million household dairy units in rural areas.Dairy farming has always been a subsystem of agriculture in such household units which entirely depends on the recyclable crop residues. Moreover the milk production system has been mainly confined to landless labourers, small and marginal farmers.Their poor socioeconomic condition, religious sentiments for cattle and utilitarian attitude towards dairy farming coupled with poor milk production potential of dairy animals has remained a major impediment in the overall development of the system. Livestock is an important source of supplementary income. Mixed farming has been serving as an insurance against natural calamities, while supporting food security and nutrient recycling. India has over 500 million livestock, which include cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats. Among them, cattle and buffaloes are popular for milk production. As milk is an important part of the Indian diet and bullock power is essential as draft animal for farming and rural transportation.

India is emerging as a global economic power and the economy is growing at an average of 8 9 per cent for last couple of years.The Dairy sector is contributing significantly to the national economy and with 112 Million Metric Tonns (MMT) milk productions during 200910; it ranks first in the World. It provides gainful employment and supplementary income to large number of people. Dairy sector contribute significantly on poverty reduction in rural areas as income from milk in the total income of underprivileged family is as high as 75 to 80% during drought and the employment generated is relatively high. Dairying has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed an important role in providing employment and income generating opportunities.

Mechanization is viewed as package of technology to increase land productivity by improved timeliness of operations, reduced crop losses and improved quality of agro-produce to increase efficiency of inputs used through their efficient measurement and placement, to increase labour productivity by using labour saving and drudgery reducing devices and reduce cost of cultivation. echnology and machinery enhanced the ability, quality, accuracy and efficiency of the human being. By using technology in any field the rate production and quality automatically increases. The country witnessed unprecedented growth in agriculture which has helped India to graduate from hunger to self sufficiency in food grains by increasing the food grain production from 51 million tonnes to 208 million tones. The estimated contributions of improved agricultural tools and equipment in augmenting total food production of India is encouraging; savings in seeds: 15-20%; savings in fertilizers: 15-20%; savings in time: 20-30%; reduction in labour: 20-30%; increase in cropping intensity: 5-20%, and increase in productivity 10-15 per cent. The major issues before Indian agriculture with respect to mechanization are; tractorization vs mechanization, custom hiring and contract farming, horticultural mechanization, effective extension activity, sugarcane mechanization, hill agriculture and industry institution interaction. The main technologies which can be taken to farmers’ field for enhancing productivity and production Aqua-ferti seed drill, two row powered seeder, okra planter, tractor mounted inclined plate planter, tractor mounted rotary tiller (Rotavator), tractor mounted zero-till drill, tractor mounted raised bed planter, tractor mounted sett cutter planter for sugarcane, pneumatic planter, vegetable transplanter, low land manual rice seeder, self-propelled rice transplanted, self-propelled power weeder, tractor operated aero blast sprayer, tractor mounted vertical conveyor reaper, maize dehusker-cum-sheller, tractor operated straw reaper (combine) and tractor operated fodder harvester. These technologies need to be introduced after necessary modifications and adjustments, depending upon the agroclimatic and terrain and soil conditions, through proper mode e.g. as individual /group ownership, on custom hiring basis or mechanization package for contract farming.

Mushrooms are fleshy fungi constituting a purely vegetarian diet, which is very tasty and nutritious. Some mushrooms are edible whereas others are poisonous. So far, more than 1600 types of mushrooms are known of which, nearly 100 have been accepted as food worldwide. Diversification in any farming system imparts sustainability. Mushrooms are one such component that not only impart diversification but also help in addressing the problems of quality food, health and environment related issues. One of the major areas that can contribute towards goal of conservation of natural resources as well as increased productivity is recycling of agro-wastes including agro-industrial waste. Utilising these wastes for growing mushrooms can enhance income and impart higher level of sustainability (Manjit Singh et al., 2011).

Mushroom cultivation activities can play an important role in supporting the local economy by contributing to subsistence food security, nutrition, generating additional employment and income through local, regional and national trade; and also offering opportunities for processing enterprises. Among the 33 globally cultivated types of mushrooms 3 mushrooms i.e. white button, oyster and paddy straw mushrooms are popularly grown in India.

Honeybees are marvelous insects known to mankind since the prehistoric times. The art of their scientific management is called as apiculture or beekeeping and the place where hives are maintained is called apiary. Beekeeping is a decentralized, forest and rural agriculture based industry, which does not require any raw material. The raw material needed is in the form of nectar and pollen, which is freely available from flowers in nature. Bee hives neither demand additional land space nor do they compete with agriculture or animal husbandry for any input. The beekeeper only needs to spare a few hours in a week to look after his bee colonies. Beekeeping is therefore ideally suited to him as a part-time occupation. Beekeeping constitutes a source of sustainable income for the rural and tribal farmers. It also provides them valuable nutrition in the form of honey. However, in addition to honey, production of bees wax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, pedigree queen bees, package bees and renting out honey bee colonies for crop pollination are some of the potential areas of apicultural diversification in India (TOI, 2012).

Most of the horticultural produce is of perishable nature and must be protected from postharvest losses, which start from the field itself. Therefore, adoption of proper packing house operation plays a very crucial role in minimizing postharvest losses

Although, we have reached new heights in the production of fruits comparable to China, Brazil and USA and in vegetables to China, yet we are far behind in postharvest management of these perishables, primarily due to lack of appropriate infrastructure. Test studies conducted in Australia have indicated that the distribution cost of perishable horticultural produce is assumed 5 to 9 times, the production cost. Further, packaging accounted for 25-50% of the wholesale price of fruits and vegetables. In India, huge losses of horticultural produce (25-30%) after harvest are encountered mainly due to non-existence of packing house concept.

Packing house operations essentially begins with the use of proper field containers, field transport, temperature protection of harvest produce, sorting, sizing, grading, packing, which are essential preparatory steps to storage, shipment and subsequent marketing. Depending on the kind of produce, additional activities viz. degreening, curing, washing, ripening, waxing, precooling etc. are done. The sequence of activities varies with the crops. A considerable quantity of postharvest losses of horticultural produce could be minimized by adoption of various packing house operations described below:

Agriculture shapes the foundation of Indian economy and despite the fact that there has been vast industrialization in most 60 years; horticulture still occupies a place of significance. In India, approximately 20-25% of the horticulture produce goes waste due to improper post harvest operations which reduces the growers share in the present marketing arrangements. The grower is getting hardly 25-35 paisa of a consumer rupee. The Value addition activities where the fruits and vegetables are processed, that fetches higher remunerative prices of the produce. Such opportunities are presently not available in rural areas but could be created through selective mechanization of agriculture and appropriate post harvest management and value addition to the harvested biomass in the production catchments.The agricultural produce involves operations like cleaning, grading, drying, storage, milling, packaging, transport, marketing and utilization. At the end of each operation, value is added to the product. The lowest and the highest monetary values of a food commodity are, respectively, when it is in raw and fresh form and when it is in processed and ready to consume/eat form. Post harvest and food processing technology are commodity and location specific. It prevent avoidable post harvest losses and adding value to the fresh agro-produces. It also creates opportunities for employment and income generation. Integration of production agriculture with on-farm primary processing is needed to have higher and sustainable production, productivity and better quality end products for domestic and export markets. It would help in reducing rural- urban disparity and ensuring household food and nutritional security for all at an affordable cost. The technology is available and a wide range of tools, machines and equipment are used in post-production of agriculture. The globalization of trade may compel many agro processing industries to rely on an imported technology at a high cost and the advantage of such technology may be availed by a few who have an exclusive business interest. Majority of agriculture-based enterprises will continue to depend upon indigenous technology and, therefore, R&D through public support has to be strengthened to become globally competitive and serve small-scale food processing sector of the country.