A Detailed Review on Common Causes of Postharvest Loss and Quality Deterioration of Fruits and Vegetables in Ethiopia

Muluneh Bekele Etana

doi:10.7176/fsqm/87-01

Abstract

The loss of foods in the post-harvest system is not new; it has always been a problem for mankind. In these days of rapidly enlarging population in the developing countries of the world where food is already short, there is an increasing urgency to do a better job of conserving mankind food supply in order to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Losses of fruit and vegetables are occurring from the field to the fork and even pre-harvest practices are strongly affects the magnitude of losses that occur at a later stage. Postharvest loss is the issue of food security in many developing countries like Ethiopia and it is the concerns of all people. Severe fruits and vegetables postharvest loss and quality deterioration mainly occurred during harvesting, marketing, transporting, processing and storage which leads to reduction in producers out puts, unavailability of food, malnutrition, effects on the economy of the people and the country. There is high magnitude of loss in fruits and vegetables crops as compared to other due to the nature of the crops. Many scientific studies were reported that numerous causes and the extent of the loss particularly, in fruits and vegetables. This might be because of financial, managerial and technical knowledge limitations in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions, infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems. In order to minimize these problems, the appropriate agricultural techniques such as the general principles of extending shelf-life of these crops must be put in place. There should be proper management of temperature, humidity and effective methods for preventing these losses. Since most national governments acknowledge that postharvest food losses is complex, therefore, it requires a commitment to an integrated approach, involving numerous organizations, including local communities and groups. As a general, this can be used as a good indication as all concerned bodies should aim for development of effective and efficient policies and strategies to solve existing problems. So the main objective of this review is to find out the concepts and problems of post-harvest food losses in perishable crops. Keywords : Ethiopia, Fruits, Postharvest loss, Quality deterioration, Vegetables DOI : 10.7176/FSQM/87-01 Publication date :May 31 st 2019

Highlights

Most studies on post-harvest technology have so far concentrated on grains and other durable products, which are stored dry and a substantial technology has been developed to deal with these problems
Ethiopia has a wide range of agro-ecological conditions with diverse verities of horticultural crops including temperate, tropical and subtropical crops
There is a report that total postharvest loss of banana as 26.5% where 56% of the loss was occurred at the retail level due to rotting before reaching consumers www.iiste.org in Ethiopia [1]

Summary

Introduction

Most studies on post-harvest technology have so far concentrated on grains and other durable products, which are stored dry and a substantial technology has been developed to deal with these problems. Less work has been undertaken on the perishable food crops, yet they are of great importance in many parts of the humid and subhumid tropics and contribute the staple carbohydrate portion of the diets in the developing countries. There are large numbers of fruits and vegetables that are cultivated for local, national and international markets. They are crops of great economic importance with a prospect for local consumption, export markets, processing and play great role food security and poverty reduction. They are important sources of nutrients, minerals and vitamins for human health and wellbeing [12]

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