Billions of dollars lost annually by Pakistan in post-harvest loss, says ADB

• ADB states that a reduction of around 75 pc of the current post-harvest loss would be equivalent to an annual saving of approximately $1.13 billion.
• The ADB report also said that the producers usually get 15pc to 20pc of the retail price of their produce.

Pakistan could save billions of dollars annually if it manages to reduce its current post-harvest loss by 75 percent, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated in its latest report.

The report titled ‘Dysfunctional Horticulture Value Chains and the Need for Modern Marketing Infrastructure: The Case of Pakistan’, published by ADBs Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, stated that a reduction of around 75 percent of the current post-harvest loss would be equivalent to an annual saving of approximately $1.13 billion.

“Post harvest losses in fruits and vegetables due to mishandling of the perishable product, poor transportation, and inadequate storage facilities and market infrastructure account for about 30pc to 40pc of total production,” stated the report.

“The annual value of post harvest losses of potato, tomato, peas, cauliflowers, carrots, turnip, radish, brinjal, squash, okra, onion, grapes, and mango in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh, valued at the respective 2016 provincial wholesale prices, is about $700 million to $934 million,” it added.

The report further said that the negative impacts of the current value chain can be assessed in terms of the low share of farmers in consumer prices. It said that the producers usually get 15pc to 20pc of the retail price. Whereas, production of perishables like potato, onion and tomato suffers from a major setback every 3–4 years.