Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 9, No 2, 2021, pp 87-99 https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2021.929 87|https://giapjournals.com/hssr/index © Manzoor et al. A MIXED-METHOD STUDY TO ENHANCE FOOD SECURITY BY REDUCING POST-HARVEST WHEAT LOSSES IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN Adeela Manzoor 1* , Ashfaq Ahmad Maan 2 , Izhar Ahmad Khan 3 , Babar Shahbaz 4 1* Ph.D. Scholar Rural Sociology, Department of Rural Sociology University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan; 2 Professor, Department of Rural Sociology University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan; 3 Associate Professor, Department of Rural Sociology University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan; 4 Associate Professor, Institute of Agriculture Extension and Rural Development, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. Email: 1* adeela.bhatti@uaf.edu.pk, 2 ashfaqmaan@gmail.com, 3 izhark99@yahoo.com, 4 babar.shahbaz@gmail.com Article History: Received on 8 th January 2021, Revised on 10 th March 2021, Published on 18 th March 2021 Abstract Purpose of the study: The major purpose of this study was to enhance food security by reducing wheat losses. Methodology: A mixed-method research was used for data collection. Six focus group discussions and six key-informant interviews were conducted to cover qualitative aspects while 400 face-to-face interviews were conducted. The study was conducted in three randomly selected districts of Punjab. Six tehsils, two from each district were further selected randomly. From each selected tehsils, four hundred farming households were selected through a proportionate sampling technique, and data were collected through an interview schedule. : For the qualitative aspect thematic analysis was used to analyze data. The quantitative data were analyzed through the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) Main Findings: The result of the present study shows that majority of respondents having old age were doing wheat post- harvest activities and they have only a primary level of education. The farmers who have access to extension services had less level of losses rather than others. Qualitative results show that the farmers who are trained with techniques to manage post-harvest activities have fewer losses as compare to the farmers who are not trained. Applications of this study: It is concluded that hurdles regarding canal water, marketing, transportation, and practices of traditional methods for wheat storage lead to post-harvest losses as well. It is a sheer need of time to train the people (involved in postharvest management activities) to reduce the postharvest losses according to their needs. Keywords: Food Security, Post-harvest, Wheat Losses, Training Needs, Wheat Production, Bread Quality. INTRODUCTION Post-harvest losses occurred due to different factors start from harvesting to its consumption e.g. traditional practices used in harvesting, processing, handling, drying, and others. Agricultural production is also lost due to sudden changes in the condition of weather, the decision of managerial activities, available facilities of transportation, availability, and infrastructure of financial markets. Post-harvest losses mechanization chain effects from many stages like as: the moment of harvesting, lack of knowledge, and inadequate practices. These practices vary from country to country (Kalsa et al., 2019 ). In less developed countries, for example, where technology level is less mechanized, high illiteracy level prevail, increased poverty, marketing infrastructure are less developed and high food insecurity is experienced, high losses incurred at drying, transportation, handling, and storage stages (Aulakh & Regmi, 2013 ). Post-harvest losses occur due to improper infrastructure, practical uses of traditional ways, insufficient knowledge, and skills, monopoly of the marketing system, insufficient management strategies and skills (Kiaya, 2014 ). Postharvest losses measured through quantitative and qualitative ways in quantitative type: reduction of weight or volume of food grains and in qualitative type: loss of nutritional or processing quality, including contamination with aflatoxins) and economic (e.g. reduced value or access to some markets) Delgado et al. (2020 ). The post-harvest loss occurred at different stages of the post-harvest management chain affecting crop quality and food security efforts. Understanding the circumstances around harvest and post-harvest of a given crop may help reduce post-harvest losses and improve the income of farm households (Dessalegn et al., 2014 ; Muroyiwa et al., 2020 ). In 2050, it is expected that the population all around the world, especially in the developed countries where the agricultural sector is largely depending upon smallholder farmers, will be increased to 9.1 billion ultimately their food requirement will also be increased by up to 70% (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2009 ). The condition will be somewhat how different in some countries such as South Africa, Brazil, and China where there are equal opportunities for both small and large landholder farming communities. It is there need of time to find out the way to reduce post-harvest losses as well as wastage of food to improve food security and improve the wellbeing of the society (Hodges et al., 2011 ; Khader et al., 2019 ). Pakistan has ranked 11 th faced the risk of food insecurity among other countries. In Pakistan, 1/3 of the population living under the poverty line. Pakistan’s estimated inhabitants are above 187 million, making it the world's sixth most populous