M. A. HOSSAIN
Principal Scientific Officer
Agricultural Economics Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur
M. KHATUN
Scientific Officer
Agricultural Economics Division, BARI, Gazipur
Hill regions, Fruits, Postharvest loss, National loss.
four hill districts, namely Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban and Moulvibazar
Postharvest and Agro-processing
2.1 Study areas: The study areas covered four hill districts, namely Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban and Moulavibazar where fruits are intensively grown compared to other parts of Bangladesh. 2.2 Sample size: From eight Upazilas of four districts a total of 1230 growers were selected as sample farmers. Another 820 farmers (Table 1) were selected whose gardens are more than 4 years old and presently they have marketed their fruits in the markets. In the case of different intermediaries, a total of 746 samples were selected from both primary and secondary markets of which 240 were local traders, 144 bepari, 48 urban aratdars, 144 local retailers and 96 were urban retailers. 2.3 Sampling technique: For selecting the farmers, simple random sampling technique and for intermediaries stratified proportionate random sampling technique for each group of intermediaries were followed. The farmers who possess more than 1 hectares of owned cultivable land and having the fruit garden (not less than 0.50 hectare) and depend on farming were selected as respondent farmers. The intermediaries were faria, bepari, paiker, aratdar, wholesaler and retailer. 2.4 Postharvest loss assessment using multiple linear regression model: The data were collected from households on socioeconomic variables such as age, educational background, family members, occupation, earning person, average annual income. Information on different postharvest activities was collected from the respondents. Averages and percentages were used to compute the postharvest losses. Information about postharvest losses was obtained from the households during the following operations: (i) harvesting, (ii) grading/handling (iii) loading/unloading and (iv) transportation. The total postharvest losses were estimated as a sum of all these losses. Functional analysis was carried out to examine the factors affecting postharvest losses at the farm level in fruits, as used by Nag et al., (2000) in chickpea. The following multiple linear regression function was specified in the present study:
Yi= a+b1X1i+ b2X2i+ b3X3i+............................ + b10X10i+ei
Where, Yi = Postharvest losses of ith fruits at farm level in kg per ha. X1i = Age of the farmers in years. X2i = Education of the farmers in schooling years. X3i = Total production of ith fruits in M.tons. X4i = Weather dummy which takes the value ‘1’ if the weather during harvesting was favourable and value ‘0’, otherwise. X5i = Transportation dummy which takes the value ‘1’ if transport facility was adequate and value ‘0’ otherwise. X6i = Labour dummy which takes the value ‘1’ if the labour availability during harvesting was adequate and value ‘0’ otherwise. X7i = Training dummy which takes the value ‘1’ if the farmer received training about production and value ‘0’ otherwise. X8i = Distance dummy which takes the value ‘1’ if the distance from farm to market was favourable and value ‘0’ otherwise. X9i = Market demand dummy which takes the value ‘1’ if the market demand was favourable and value ‘0’ otherwise. X10i= Market place dummy which takes the value ‘1’ if the marketplace was favourable and value ‘0’ otherwise a=intercept. b1,b2,b3,………………..b10=Coefficients of the respective variable i=1,2,3,…6 and 1= banana, 2=pineapple, 3=orange, 4=mango, 5=litchi, 6=jackfruit. ei = Random-error.
Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 42(1): 171-184, March 2017 ISSN 0258-7122 (Print), 2408-8293 (Online)
Journal