ANNOUNCEMENTS
This research attempted to understand the structure of minor channels of perishable vegetables in vegetable value chain and it also aimed toquantify the availability of perishable vegetables in minor channels ofMadanapalle city in Andhra Pradesh and of Hyderabad city in Telangana. Vegetables are good source of micronutrients and therefore, they make an important part of developing countries’ diets. However, owing to some biological and environmental factors, they are highly perishable in nature compared to cereals and pulses because of which they contribute to huge quantities of food loss (Kader, 1992). This study therefore unveils the path that perishable vegetable follow to reach final consumer and the waste that is produced in the path during the course of their supply.
Data for this study was collected through primary and secondary sources. First objective of this study maps the minor channels of perishable vegetablesin Madanapalle and Hyderabad. This was achieved through pre-tested and semi-structured interviews with key-informants, observations made during field visits and through available literature. Second objective of the study aims to understand the availability of perishable vegetables in these minor channels. For this, all vegetables were grouped into three perishability groups based on their potential storage life. Outlets and colonies were surveyed to account for the quantity of available perishability levels in each of them. It was observed that basket hawkers and pushcart hawkers together had more than 59% highly perishable vegetables out of the total vegetable available with them. This was also the maximum availability of highly perishable vegetables in any of the outlets. Local retail shops, manakuragaylu and organized retail shops, all three, together accounted for maximum availability of least perishable vegetables. Least perishable vegetable in these outlets accounted for 48.89% of total available vegetables.
It was also found that 71.58% of total vegetables present in Madanapalle were of the category of ‘highly perishable’ and 66.09% of total available vegetable in Hyderabad was under the category of ‘least perishable’.
Third objective traced the path of vegetable waste produced in minor channels of vegetable value chain and it was observed that most vegetable waste was either thrown or was left in the markets and streets itself.
KEYWORDS: Perishable vegetable, minor channels, vegetable value chain, perishability, food security
