Post Harvest Handling of Aonla Fruits in Gujarat

The Aonla (Emblica officinalis), or Amla is thought to be a native of India, Ceylon, Malaysia and China. In India, as well as in Gujarat state the area under aonla cultivation is expanding at faster rate. Aonla fruit are very popular for its medicinal property, one of the richest sources of vitamin C and utilised for preparation of various products. If the marketing is not properly organised, there is very possibility of glut in market at peak period. Therefore, an appropriate post harvest handling system is necessary for reducing the losses. This book, there fore provides the information and status of whole post harvest handling operation performed by the farmers at orchard level, whole sale market and retail market; supplemental to the detailed review for production, processing and marketing of aonla fruits. It assesses the extent of losses at various stages, identifies the different sources and reasons for the losses, earmarks the stage of high losses and explores the possibilities of reducing these losses. The book should be very much useful to aonla farmers, people associated with marketing, processors, academicians, horticulturists and researchers.