An initiative to strengthen post-harvest practices and enable access to practical village-level solutions

In parts of Uttar Pradesh, nearly 30–40 per cent of vegetables never reach consumers — not because demand is missing, but because produce is lost in the crucial days between harvest, handling, transport and sale. For smallholder farmers, this wastage directly translates into lost income, distress selling, and weaker bargaining power in already fragile rural markets.

To address this urgent and under-addressed challenge, Marico Innovation Foundation (MIF) has launched an on-ground Agri-Pilot in Varanasi and Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, aimed at reducing post-harvest losses in vegetable value chains and building a replicable model that can be scaled across India’s high-loss agricultural belts. The pilot is designed to bridge the gap between innovation and adoption by enabling farmers to access practical, affordable solutions that can improve incomes and reduce waste.

The pilot spans 30 villages and over 1,000+ farmers, focusing on highly perishable crops such as tomatoes, brinjal and cauliflower — produce that is especially vulnerable in regions with limited access to cold storage, packhouses or aggregation infrastructure. With few viable post-harvest options available locally, farmers are often forced to sell immediately after harvest, regardless of market demand or price, leading to both wastage and reduced earnings.

Varanasi and Mirzapur have historically faced gaps in post-harvest infrastructure, with most smallholder farmers dependent on local aggregators, middlemen and rural haats for selling produce. Only 20–30 per cent farmers access the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) system to sell their produce, limiting price discovery and market access. Even though vegetables can typically be stored for 3–7 days, farmers have limited ability to hold produce and are compelled to sell quickly after harvest.

MIF’s field research revealed a critical insight — the issue is not farmer willingness, but solution accessibility. While farmers are aware of post-harvest losses and actively seek ways to reduce wastage, affordable and easy-to-use technologies remain out of reach for most rural communities.

Based on this, MIF has curated a portfolio of five startups and six post-harvest technologies that address key challenges around storage, handling and shelf-life improvement at the farm and village level. Selected for affordability, feasibility and ease of adoption, these solutions are being introduced through hands-on demonstrations and direct farmer engagement, enabling farmers to assess their usefulness in real farming conditions.

The on-ground execution is being led by Samunnati Foundation, the implementation partner, leveraging its strong grassroots presence and farmer networks across Uttar Pradesh. The pilot has commenced, with activities currently focused on farmer mobilisation, baseline assessments, and real-time feedback from the field.

Commenting on the initiative, Suranjana Ghosh, Head – Marico Innovation Foundation, said, “Post-harvest losses are one of the most persistent and economically damaging challenges in Indian agriculture. What makes this problem difficult is not the absence of innovation, but the gap between innovation and adoption. Through this pilot, we are working closely with farmers in Varanasi and Mirzapur to understand what solutions actually work on the ground — economically, operationally and behaviourally. Our ambition is to build a scalable model that can be replicated across India, helping reduce wastage while delivering meaningful income impact for farmers.”

Over the next few months, the pilot will track improvements in post-harvest handling, reduction in losses, increase in marketable produce, and improved price realisation, to assess its overall impact on farmer incomes. It will also evaluate adoption levels, continued usage of solutions, satisfaction scores, and willingness to pay, with the objective of strengthening the model for future scale-up.

It is anticipated that 20–25 per cent of farmers will adopt these post-harvest solutions, with Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) expected to play a vital role in their propagation and expansion. These interventions are expected to reduce supply chain losses and waste by 20–30 per cent. Additionally, by extending the shelf life of produce by 3–5 days, the pilot aims to enable farmers to access more remunerative market prices and reduce the pressure to sell immediately after harvest.

By strengthening post-harvest practices and enabling access to practical village-level solutions, the initiative is expected to reduce crop wastage, improve farmer incomes, and create a scalable approach that can be expanded to other regions in the future.