The importance of post harvest loss management

Time and money are required to cultivate food products, and unless the farmer is providing  food only for his own household, he automatically becomes part of the market economy: he  must sell his produce, he must recover his costs, and he must make a profit.
Estimates of the post­harvest losses of food grains in the developing world from mishandling,  spoilage and pest infestation are put at 25%; this means that one­ quarter of what is produced  never reaches the consumer for whom it was grown, and the effort and money required to  produce it are lost ­forever. Fruit, vegetables and root crops are much less hardy and are  mostly quickly perishable, and if care is not taken in their harvesting, handling and transport,  they will soon decay and become unfit for human consumption. Estimates of production losses in developing countries are hard to judge, but some authorities put losses of sweet  potatoes, plantain, tomatoes, bananas and citrus fruit sometimes as high as SO percent, or half  of what is grown. Reduction in this wastage, particularly if it can economically be avoided,  would be of great significance to growers and consumers alike.

Effects of post harvest losses 

Both quantitative and qualitative food losses of extremely variable magnitude occur at all  stages in the post­harvest system from harvesting, through handling, storage, processing and  marketing to final delivery to the consumer.

Nutrition 

Fruits and vegetables are rich source of vitamins and minerals essential for human nutrition.  These are wasted in transit from harvest to consumer represent a loss in the quantity of a  valuable food. This is important not only in quantitative terms, but also from the point of view  of quality nutrition. Reducing Postharvest losses along all segments of fruit and vegetable  value chains presents an opportunity to improve nutrition security by capturing otherwise lost  nutrients to channel into the food system and create profitable, accessible and affordable  diversified diets.

Economy 

Careless harvesting and rough handling of perishable bruise and scar the skin, thus reducing  quality and market price. Such damaged produce also fails to attract the international buyers,  and bring the exporting country less profit and bad name. This ultimately results in huge  economic losses to the country.

For improving the situation, it is essential to create awareness among growers, farm workers,  manager’s traders and exporters about the extent of losses being incurred and their economic  consequences. These groups of people involved in the fruit industry also need to learn the  basic principles of fruit handling and storage. In addition, the government needs to provide  basic  infra­structure  like  storage,  handling,  grading,  packing,  transport  and  marketing  facilities and technical expertise. This could be carried out by the public and private sectors.

Loss assessment 

There are no generally accepted methods for evaluating post­harvest losses of fresh produce.  Whatever evaluation method may be used, the result can refer only to the described situation. In the appraisal of an existing marketing operation, the accurate evaluation of losses occurring  is a problem. It may be suspected that losses are too great, but there may be no figures to  support this view because:

 Records do not exist;

 Records if available do not cover a long enough period of time;

 The figures available are only estimates made by several observers;

 Records may not truly represent a continuing situation; for example, losses may have been  calculated only when unusually high or low;

 Loss figures may be deliberately over­ or understated for commercial or other reasons in  order to gain benefits or to avoid embarrassment.

Consequently, if accurate records of losses at various stages of the marketing operation have  not been kept over a period of time, a reliable assessment of the potential cost­effectiveness of  ways to improve handling methods is virtually impossible, and the marketing position of the  grower is difficult to strengthen. It is evident that the grower who wants to reduce his  post­harvest losses must maintain reliable records.