Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
marketing chain, and may range anywhere from
50% in
tropical areas and where storage facilities are limited. China, the largest fruit and vegetable
producing country, experiences postharvest losses in the range of 20-25%. Since a large
proportion of fruits and vegetables produced are immediately consumed, the loss from
long-term storage is considerably reduced. As well, processing can also reduce postharvest
losses. China is the largest producer of apple juice concentrate, and this reduces the necessity
for large storage facilities. Moreover, such facilities are not suitable since the sizes of farms
are rather small. Cold storage facilities may be available for 10-15% of the fruit crops in
China. Cooling and transportation facilities are also being developed in China. In India,
the problem of storage for pulses is reduced by letting the fresh fruits mature and dry.
Several fruits from the cucumber family are ripened, after which they can be stored for
months without specialized storage facilities. In countries such as India and China where
the weather is tropical and subtropical, fruits and vegetables characteristic to these climates
are produced. As well, the production of many of such commodities is seasonal, and this
reduces the necessity of long-term storage. Thus, it is common to have peaks of availability
for fruits such as apple, orange, pear, banana, mango, and guava spread throughout the year.
Even then, postharvest loss of 50% or greater is common as the storage facilities at the local
vendors are limited and good quality products are hard to find (e.g., apple).
>
10% in advanced countries to
>
1.5 Strategies to improve quality
A recent understanding among the growers on the effect of growing conditions on the
quality of produce has brought a welcome change in the attitude toward the goals of pro-
duction. Simply producing a commodity in large amounts need not assure the optimum
postharvest quality of the produce. In general, the quality of a produce cannot be enhanced
through adopting postharvest storage technologies. The quality of a produce is determined
by the growing conditions, nutritional regimes, and the genetic potential of the particular
variety. Thus, increased attention is being given to these attributes. Several novel posthar-
vest technologies developed in recent years have the potential to maintain the high quality
of produce during subsequent storage at optimal conditions. These include active modi-
fied atmosphere and dynamic controlled atmosphere. In addition, there is growing con-
cern about food safety, which is also being addressed in the postharvest area. Growers in
Europe and those in other countries who export to Europe are now required to implement
the standards of Good Agricultural Practice. These standards are to ensure the safety and
quality of fresh produce and require accountability and traceability of produce entering the
European market. This means that the farmer must keep a record of the irrigation, fertil-
ization, and pest management treatments that he applies; the packinghouse, exporter, and
the shipper must record the treatments given at the packinghouse and storage conditions
of the produce along the distribution chain. It also requires safety and cleanliness con-
ditions for the workers in the farms and packinghouse. The producer and exporter must
be examined by an external evaluator to ensure that Good Agricultural Practice is being
implemented.
The necessity for traceability has led to the development of barcodes and radiofrequency
identification stickers that can trace a commodity from “farm to fork.” Some farms and
packinghouses now have barcodes on each container in the orchard that is read as it enters
the packinghouse and is weighed and checked. Radiofrequency identification systems have
Search WWH ::
Custom Search