Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
many purposes (mostly not related to produce) have resulted in extreme pollution
due to ineffective waste disposal systems. The problem is so bad that many coun-
tries are considering banning their use and Rwanda has already banned the use of
plastic bags. An alternative technology should be developed that is inexpensive and
sustainable, and serves the purpose of maintaining high relative humidity around
the product.
Food safety is the most important topic for marketing of fresh produce. Unsafe
use of pesticides during production of fruits and vegetables is a frequent issue,
including use of unregistered materials, application at higher than approved dos-
age, lack of protective clothing and training of operators, and applications close
to harvest and consumption. Microbial safety of fresh produce is also a significant
problem. Consumption of raw fruits and vegetables increases the chances that
microbial contamination can sicken consumers. Many of the recommended strate-
gies for reducing the risk of contamination with human pathogens are particularly
challenging to implement in the developing world. For example, the recommen-
dation to wash one's hands after using sanitary facilities is a luxury in many lo-
cations. Water for hand washing is often not available in adequate amounts, and
clean water is often unavailable. Soap for washing is also not readily available.
Research is needed to develop convenient and affordable strategies to overcome
these obstacles to human hygiene to make significant progress in microbial safety
of fresh produce.
Finally, a lack of cooling, cool transport, and cold storage facilities is a major
challenge to reducing postharvest losses in developing countries. Cooling technolo-
gy is generally expensive and requires electricity that is often unavailable. A number
of small-scale, inexpensive coolers have been developed (Kitinoja and Thompson
2010
), but many are based on evaporative cooling which has limited cooling capac-
ity, especially in humid environments. Innovative engineers must be incentivized
to develop strategies to address this need in a cost-effective and scale appropriate
manner. Technologies have been developed for keeping life-saving medicines and
blood cool. These technologies can potentially be adapted for use on a larger scale
for produce transport. Improved insulation can be used to maintain products at low-
er temperatures after harvest and can be effective when combined with harvesting
at the coolest time of the day.
Successes
There have been a few modest successes in adoption of technologies for postharvest
handling in developing countries. A small-scale, lower cost cold room technology,
the Cool-Bot, is beginning to be adopted in several parts of the world (Anon
2012a
).
The Cool-Bot uses a special controller developed by Keep It Cool, Inc. based in
New York, USA (http://keepitcoolinc.com) together with a window air conditioner.
The two are installed in an insulated room that can be made of a variety of materials,
including locally sourced natural materials. The cost of this unit is considerably less
than a traditional cold room, and the unit can be run using solar power in remote
