1. India is the largest producer of fruits and second largest producer of vegetables in the world.
2. Inspite of that per capita availability of fruits and vegetables is quite low because of post – harvest losses which account for about 25% to 30% of production.
3. Besides, quality of a sizable quantity of produce also deteriorates by the time it reaches the consumer.
4. Most of the problems relating to the marketing of fruits and vegetables can be traced to their perishability.
5. Perishability is responsible for high marketing costs, market gluts, price fluctuations and other similar problems.
6. In order to overcome this constraint, the Government of India and the Ministry of Agriculture promulgated an order known as “cold storage order, 1964” under section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act., 1955.
