Hauling goods to and from market

Photos of a few of the ways I saw people hauling produce and other goods from place to place.

The huge trucks that haul wholesale produce to market are intricately
decorated and hung with good luck charms.

Smaller retailers bring carts to the wholesale market...

...and load them with produce to sell in the city.

In a rural village in Orissa, this salesperson goes from
house to house with all manner of plastic goods loaded on his bike.

What is efficiency?

I came to India expecting to identify ways in which new technology could make fruit and vegetable supply chains more efficient. But I soon discovered that the large numbers of people in need of employment in India, combined with the huge costs of capital and electricity, give "efficiency" a different meaning in India than in the United States. Expensive technology that takes the place of jobs and fails with the first power outage isn't always the best answer. 

Women peel garlic by hand.

I saw no electric scales at the wholesale market. Instead, large wooden scales like these are used to weigh sacks of garlic.

Brokers and wholesalers barter for apples at the wholesale market.
Many criticize the large chains of intermediaries between farmers and retailers.

What goes to waste in India?

Heat, monsoons, potholed roads, and supply chains with lots of middlemen can cause fruit and vegetables to rot while being transported from the farm to urban consumers. There's a market for less-than-perfect produce, though, as well as other things that might go to waste in the US.

According to many sources, 30-40% of produce in India rots between the farm and the consumer.

Cows roam the wholesale market in Delhi, snacking on discarded fruit and vegetables. 

Manure doesn't go to waste in this village in Orissa.
This woman shapes manure into patties to burn for fuel.

For more info on waste in India, check out wastelines.com, the blog of fellow Fulbright Scholar Rachel Leven.