Post-harvest Management for Sustainable Food Security

Abstract

Post-harvest management plays a critical role in food security by minimizing the food waste and losses and by preserving food quality and safety for consumption. It also adds value by meeting the contemporary consumer’s demand, thereby augment the earnings of the farmers and food-processors. The recent developments in the post-harvest mechanization and automation tools including the use of sensors, artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) based sorter, graders and the real time quality monitoring devices could be the game-changer in the coming years. However, various challenges involved in actual implementation of the advanced tools include the cost, feasibility, lack of adequately trained and skilled manpower, infrastructures, etc. Therefore, there is a need to develop the affordable indigenous technologies based on advanced scientific methods, easy operating strategies and economical infrastructure to address the above challenges and achieve a sustained food-security in India.