In times of climate change, ‘agritech’ steps in to reduce food loss, increase Indian farm incomes

Imagine you are a tomato farmer who faced drought, which has resulted in a low yield and poor quality of crop. The tomatoes need to be individually harvested and the labour cost to harvest them is high. The combined cost of storage and transportation is more than the value of the produce in the market. What would you do?

At this stage, some farmers decide to throw away the produce and accept their loss, instead of transporting it and losing more money. This food loss, not only has economic implications for the farmer, but also affects the environment as the land, water and energy (agricultural inputs) used to produce the food that is discarded, are also wasted. Second, it also leads to emissions.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization states that food loss and waste contribute up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

There are also other forms of post-harvest losses that occur during storage and transportation. Extreme weather events such as heatwaves, cyclones or flooding, intensified by climate change, also contribute to post-harvest losses. Sometimes, the supply exceeds the demand and in perishable goods that can’t be stored for long, it again leads to a loss.

The 2019 State of Food and Agriculture report by the Food and Agriculture...

Read more