An Overview on Post Harvest Handling and Commercial Processing of Horticultural Crops in NEH region of India

North east region is blessed with diverse agro climatic conditions which are suitable for cultivation of various horticultural crops. The main horticultural crops grown in this region are aonla, banana, guava, jackfruit, khasi mandarin, mango, pineapple, peach, pear, plum, passion fruit, kiwi, beans, brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, chow chow, cucumber, tomato, turmeric, ginger, king chilli, large cardamom and black pepper. The NEH region produces 11, 637, 980.00 MT fruits and vegetables. Due to difficult terrain, poor transportation facilities and unavailability of refrigerated vehicle leads to the severe post harvest loss of horticultural crops. In spite of lack of various post harvest handling facilities fewer innovative techniques have been developed for extending the shelf life of fruits and commercialized such as waxing, packaging in perforated poly bags and corrugated fiber boxes, modified atmosphere storage and control atmosphere storage supplemented with cold temperature. Surprisingly the NEH region has 53 numbers of cold storage with value capacity of 130, 376 MT. Most of the processed product of fruits, vegetables and spices are prepared in cottage or small scale sector and usually operated by women. The growth potential of this sector is enormous in this region even though there are still some significant constraints which, if not addressed sooner, can impede the growth prospects of the Food Processing Industry in NEH region. Special attention is required to develop the infrastructure facilities with financial support by the government of India and there is also need to generate the awareness among the farming communities in this region to promote this sector on national and global level.