Agriculture biomass in India: Part 2. Post-harvest losses, cost and environmental impacts

The growing bioeconomy sector aims to reduce the amount of waste generated and to promote the unavoidable waste generated as a resource and achieve higher levels of recycling and safe disposal. Post-harvest losses contribute to a substantial proportion of the loss that the agricultural biomass undergoes in India. It is therefore important to make an assessment of this loss and assign a certain cost to it. In this study, we have carried out an assessment of the residues that are generated in the field or on the farm at the time of harvest (for example wheat and rice straw), wastes generated as a result of post-harvest losses. In addition, the by-products from the processing of agricultural produce (for example sugarcane bagasse produced during the production of sugar from sugar cane, or cereal husks produced during milling) are also considered. Finally, certain aspects of the environmental impact and sustainability of the utilization of agricultural residues and by-products are addressed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.