Assessment of knowledge and adoption pattern of post-harvest management practices by Maharashtrian onion farmers

Horticulture sector in India is witnessing a continuous expansion. Simultaneously, a significant amount of produce is lost due to the post-harvest losses. Studies report a wide gap between the rate of technology development by research institutes and the uptake of the same by grass-root farmers. This can be attributed to the lack of information or in-depth knowledge about such technologies. The present study has examined the current status of onion farmers' knowledge and the level of adoption of the recommended pre-harvest and post-harvest management practices. The study was carried out during 2020 in purposively selected Junnar and Dindori blocks of Pune and Nashik districts, Maharashtra respectively. The study revealed that 40% of the respondents clustered under the high knowledge category and 41.67% respondents displayed medium level of adoption. Majority of the respondents were knowledgeable and adopted practices like harvesting at the optimum time and correct stage of maturity, proper handling, curing, sorting, grading, and packaging at field level. However, they overlooked the adoption of certain essential practic es , for instance selection of suitable cultivars, nursery management, application of bio-fertilizers, bio-fungicides, market intelligence and secondary processing. The emphasis should be to devise a mix of appropriate extension strategies to narrow down the knowledge-practice gap faced by the onion farmers.