Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the different methods of preserving vegetable left over after market hours among retailers of Bungudu local government area of Zamfara state-Nigeria. Out of the total number of markets in the local Government ten villages were randomly selected and in each of the village market, six vegetables sellers were choose at random and administered with the questionnaire making the total of sixty respondents. Result showed majority of the respondents were male and fall within the age range of 20-40 (64%), most of them acquired only Qur’anic education and spend ≤1-15 years in the business. Their source of vegetables is through wholesalers and majority of them (55%) used local basket in preserving their left over after market hours, this followed by spreading (20%), heaping (12%), sun drying (8%) and use of jute sacking (5%). The present study revealed that methods used by the vegetable retailers were traditional thus spoilage can still be high, due to. The government should therefore, enlighten the vegetables sellers on other methods like refrigeration, chilling, pickling, salting, freezing etc. which could be through radio, television, firm shows, poster and personal contact. More funds should be provided and good road network linking rural areas to market should be put in place to control loss incurred during transportation. Key words: Left-over vegetables, preservation, retailers, Bungudu.
Highlights
Vegetables are edible annual crops usually managed under intensive or gardening system
Vegetables are the best resource for overcoming micronutrient deficiencies and provide smallholder farmers with much higher income and more jobs per hectare than staple crops (AVRDC 2006), they serve as foreign exchange earning to their growing countries
Considering the economic constrain of the Nigerian local populace and daily out-put at harvest of these crops which is far higher than their demand, the retailers do have daily leftover of these produce which tends to spoils due to their perishability when kept for more than a day their preservation is necessary so as to avoid business lost
Summary
Vegetables are edible annual crops usually managed under intensive or gardening system. License 4.0 International License hibiscus as some of the leafy vegetables grown in the study area while the non-leafy includes tomatoes, pepper, pumpkin, water melon, garden eggs, onion and okra. They generally require sandy loam rich in organic with average pH of 6 and temperature range of 20 to 30°C with relatively high humidity and dry air with high temperature for leafy and no-leafy respectively Peña and Hughes, 2007; Sani and Jaliya, undated) usually grown in low land areas “fadama” after rainy season with little or no irrigation At harvest these crops are usually taken to market afresh and sell to retailers either by the farmers or through wholesalers to a larger society. The present study aimed at surveying various preservation techniques employed by vegetable retailers in Bungudu local government area of Zamfara state
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call