MAIZE POST-HARVEST LOSSES AND ITS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ADOPTED BY FARMER IN GULMI DISTRICT

Author:
Sweksha Pathak, Susmita Adhikari, Sanket Kattel, Unish Nepali, Ashmita Sapkota, Sushmita Adhikari

Doi: 10.26480/fabm.02.2024.45.51

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

The research entitled survey on maize post-harvest losses and its management practices of Gulmi was conducted in different wards of Satyawati rural municipality under PMAMP Gulmi from March to August 2023. The study aimed to identify the maize post-harvest losses and assess the level of knowledge about post-harvest management of maize among the farmers of Gulmi. A household survey was conducted with 90 respondents through a pretested questionnaire. Two-stage sampling procedure was followed and six out of 8 wards of Satyawati in the district was purposively selected in the first stage based on their predominance in maize production according to the information obtained from PMAMP, Gulmi. While in the second stage, there was selection of 15 active and contributing farmers from each ward. The data were obtained and analyzed using descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS and Ms-excel. The study revealed that 62% of the respondents expressed their view on insects as a main problem in storage whereas 11% of the respondents indicated insects as main problem in the field condition. Farmers ranked maize weevil as a major damaging insect with index value 0.95. Improved variety had majority of weevil infestation (92.22%) in the storage condition. Degree of losses in post-harvest was expressed differently by respondents. About <10% post-harvest losses were reported by the majority of farmer (62.22%), while only 20-30% post-harvest losses were reported by about 32.22% respondents. Majority of respondents (100%) had not witnessed the occurrence of diseases. Most of the farmers store their cob with husk (73.3%) using open floor in upper stair “Aati”. Majority of the farmers (84.4%) had knowledge on the management of the field and storage pests. Around 73.3% of farmers adopted sun drying as their pest management techniques, 62.2% of the farmers used chemical pesticides against Storage pest. More training was being provided to farmers on production-related topics than postharvest management. Thus, the study area needs to receive technical support on the management of insect pests and diseases.

Pages 45-51
Year 2024
Issue 2
Volume 5