The contribution of horticulture remains extremely important for ensuring food and nutritional security in Bangladesh. Horticultural crops in Bangladesh cover an area of 873 thousand hectares with a total production of 110 lakh metric tons (Monthly Statistical Bulletin 2009). The desired level of development in horticulture has not yet been achieved because of a number of constraints. Due to absence of proper postharvest management system, a bulk quantity of the harvested produce is damaged every year. More importantly, lack of proper storage and marketing facilities, and seasonal gluts force the farmers to sell their hard-earned produce at throw-away prices. The food and nutrition situation in Bangladesh is fragile due to inadequate and imbalanced diet intake. Consumption of a diversified diet to meet the needs of macro and micro nutrients needs to be promoted (Bhattacherjee et al. 2007; NFP 2008; BDHS 2009). Fruits and vegetables are highly valued in human diet mainly for vitamins and minerals. However, the present consumption of fruits and vegetables in Bangladesh is 126 g/day/capita (23 g leafy vegetables, 89 g non-leafy vegetables and 14 g fruit), which is far below the minimum average requirement of 400 g/day/capita (FAO/WHO 2003). However, according to HIES (2005), the consumption of fruits and vegetables including potato is 253 g/day/capita, which indicates a poor dietary status in Bangladesh. In this regard, the high levels of low birth weight (33%), underweight (41%), stunting (43%) and wasting (17%) among children less than five years; anemia among infants, young children, adolescent girls and pregnant women; and poor diet diversification are of particular concerns (BDHS 2009; BCIP 2010). The prevalence of overweight (12.5%) among women that has increased by 10% between 2004 and 2007 also indicate the existence of double burden of malnutrition in Bangladesh (BDHS 2009). A large proportion of Bangladeshi population is food insecure due to poor diet quality. The usual diet is heavily dependent on rice, and most of the energy in the diet is contributed by cereals. Rice accounts for 68% of the total calorie consumption in the year 2005. Therefore, even though rice is not a good source of protein, it constitutes about half of total protein consumption in the diet. High prevalence of micronutrient deficiency i.e. hidden hunger is common in the society, and the situation could be improved significantly by increasing the consumption of high quality and micronutrient-rich foods like fruits and vegetables. Due to tropical and subtropical climates, a variety of fruits and vegetables are grown in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, a considerable proportion of the harvested produce never reaches the consumers mainly because of postharvest losses. The estimated postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables lie in the range of 20-40% (Wills et al. 2004). Hence, there is general support among scientists for the proposition that

2. To
The Presentation
Dr. Md. Miar Uddin
Chief Scientific Officer

3.  Increase Food and Security
 Increase of agriculture productivity is difficult
rather than to reduce the post harvest losses
 More value added
 To reduce the pressure on environment
 Reduce impact of unfair trade
 Decrease unemployment rate
 Increase the quality of food
Why is Postharvest Important?

4. To develop and improve the technologies on
postharvest handling, storage, processing,
preservation and quality evaluation of BARI
mandated crops.
Creation of Agribusiness and Agro-processing
job opportunities for rural poor.

5. To asses postharvest losses and to identify the
prioritize areas for research intervention for
minimizing losses.
To develop/improve appropriate processing and
preservation technology for agricultural crops at
farm, traders and miller’s level.
To study the quality of produces and to increase
their shelf life with retain their quality.
To increase income generation for the rural poor
and agribusiness by training/providing simple
processing techniques.

6. Postharvest Losses in the
Asia-Pacific Region
Country Losses (%)
India 40
Indonesia 20-50
Iran >35
Korea 20-50
Philippines 27-42
Sri Lanka 16-41
Thailand 17-35
Vietnam 20-25

7. Existing packing system of fruits and vegetables

8. Improved packaging system of fruits and vegetables

9. Brand name
Ripen 15, Riser, Tomtom, Harvest, Eden, Garden, Sea queen,
Gold Plus, Promote, Profit, Ethrel, etc.
Ripening chemicals

10. Existing ripening practices

11. Banana treating with ripen-15 Treated Banana loading in truck

12. Achievement/Technology
Generation

13. Assessment of Postharvest Losses
Postharvest losses of pulses, oilseeds
and wheat have been assessed through
conducting survey and field studiers at
farmer’s level.

14. Poly. lined gunny bag Tin container

15. Poly. Lined earthen motka Coaltar coated earthen motka

16. Maturity indices of mango cultivars namely
Gopalbogh, Langra, Khirshapat, Aswina,
Fazli, sweet pepper, ash gourd, yard long
bean, okra have been standardized
Design and fabrication of non-refrigerated
cooler for extension of shelf life for fruits and
vegetables

17. Harvested after 33 DA Harvested after 39 DA
Harvested after 48 DA
Harvested after 42 DA
Optimum
stage
Slight
hardy
Immature

18. Modified Atmosphere Packaging
Washing with Chlorine Water

19. Modified atmosphere packaging of vegetables
(spinach, indian spinach, red amaranth, country
bean, okra and green chili) and fruits (mango,
banana, papaya) have been identified.

20. Retention of quality and shelf life of ridge gourd at
ambient condition
Ridge gourd packed in 1.5% perforated
polypropylene showed better quality and shelf life (7
days).
Fresh 1.5% perforated PP

21. Retention of quality and shelf life of sponge gourd
at ambient condition
Sponge gourd packed in 1% perforated
polypropylene showed better quality and shelf life (7
days).

22. Spinach packed in 0.2% perforated polypropylene (36
micron) showed better quality and shelf life (7 days).

23. CFB cartoon Plastic crates Wooden box
Fresh okra 0.4% Perforation
Traditional bag (control)
Okra pre-treated with chlorine water and packaging in 0.4%
perforated PP and transported in plastic crates/wooden box/
CFB cartoon showed better quality and shelf life (7 days).

24. 0.5% perforated PP Covered with newspaper
in CFB carton
Mango packed in 0.5% perforated PP (34 micron) and mango
covered with news paper and then kept in CFB cartoon retained
better keeping quality in respect to shelf life (10 days) as well as
nutritional quality.

25. 200 µgL-1 600 µgL-1
400 µgL-1
 Application of 1-MCP (400 µgL-1) on mature green banana
delayed the ripening process and prolonged storage life up to
30 days at 20±2°C and 85-90% RH.

26. Temperature and Humidity management
Washing with Chlorine Water

27. 130C & 88 ± 2% RH
90C & 88 ± 2% RH 110C & 88 ± 2% RH
Fresh pineapple kept in 1% perforated PP (44
micron) and stored at 110C & 88±2% RH
performed better quality and shelf life (3 weeks)
during storage.

28. 120C & 88±2% RH 130C & 88±% RH
Ambient temperature (7days)
Lemon stored in 130C with 88±2% RH in 1%
perforated polypropylene (34 micron) performed
better storage life for 4 weeks of storage

29. Banana kept in polypropylene (40 micron) and
stored in CFB carton at 13±10C with 85±2%
RH performed better storage life up to 4 weeks.

30. 100C & 88±2%RH Control (7 days)
120C & 88±2%RH
Mango stored in 120C with 88±2%RH in high density
polypropylene (110 micron) with 0.5% perforation
packet performed better storage life for 16 days of
storage

31. 1 ± 1°C
Fresh Strawberry
10 ± 1°C
7 ± 1°C
BARI strawberry-1 stored at 1±1°C and 75±5% RH for 8
days with attractive colour and acceptable market quality

32. Quick Uniform Ripening
No Health Hazard (Minimum Residue
Level)

33. Optimization of ripening chemicals for
mango
 At matured green stage, ethephon can be
applied@500ppm-750ppm for uniform
ripening of mango (var. Langra) at ambient
condition.
The estimated residue at edible stage of
mango remains 0.30ppm-0.72ppm, which is
lower than MRL of ethephon (2ppm).

34. Control 750 ppm
After 05 days

35. Optimization of ripening chemicals for
banana
 At matured green stage, ethephon can be
applied@750ppm-1000ppm for uniform
ripening of banana (Meher Sagar) at
ambient condition.
 No residue was detected (ethephon) in both
peel and pulp of banana, at marketable
stage

36. After 6 days
T2 (250ppm) T3 (500ppm)
T4 (1000ppm) T5 (10000ppm)
T1 (0ppm)
T3 (750ppm)

37. Optimization of ripening chemicals for
papaya
 Ethephon@500ppm-750ppm can be applied
in matured papaya (cv. local) for uniform
ripening within 4 days at ambient
temperature.
 The estimated residue at marketable stage
of papaya remains 0.32ppm-0.45ppm, which
is lower than MRL of ethephon (2ppm).

38. 500ppm
750ppm
Control

39. Optimization of ripening chemicals for
tomato
 Ethephon@750ppm-1000ppm can be
applied in breaker stage of tomato (cv.
Udayan) for uniform ripening within 7days
at ambient temperature.
 The estimated residue at edible stage of
tomato remains 0.12ppm-0.71ppm, which is
lower than MRL of ethephon (2ppm).

40. After 7 days
T4 (750ppm)
T3 (500ppm)
T2 (250ppm)
T1 (0ppm)
T6 (10000ppm)
T5 (1000ppm)

41. T3 (1000ppm)
T2 (750ppm)
T1 (500ppm)
T4 (0ppm)
After 7 days

43. Preservation of fruits and vegetables by
steeping
Preservation by steeping in 10% brine solution
The green fruits like mango, olive, golden apple, satkora etc
can preserved for 8 months
 Vegetables like carrot, cauliflower, cabbage, bitter gourd,
peas, can preserved for 8 months

44. Preservation of tomato pulp at ambient
temperature
The pulp is concentrated to 10OB and then 0.2% citric acid
and sodium benzoate (1000ppm) are added.
The pulp then stored in air tight plastic/glass container.

45. Preservation of Fruit Slices in Sugar
Syrup
Mango Jackfruit Pineapple Litchi

46. Standardized the method for preparation of
shelf-stable mixed fruit leather from pulps of
jackfruit, mango and pineapple
Standardized the method for preparation of
preserves and candies from muskmelon, sweet
gourd, ridge gourd and cucumber

47. Formulation of fruit bar
Mango bar

48. Standardized the methods for preparation of
pickles from vegetables like brinjal, carrot,
hyacinth bean, radish, cabbage, cauliflower,
sweet potato, etc.
Standardized the methods for preparation of
pickles from fruits like olive, golden apple,
chalta, shatkara, green mango, etc.
Processing of Fruits & Vegetables into
Pickles

49. Sathkora pickle
Brinjal pickle
Garlic pickle
Jackfruit pickle
Mixed vegetables
pickle

50. Standardized the methods for preparation of
chutneys from ber, tamarind, golden apple,
chalta, olive etc.
Standardized the method for preparation of
jam, jelly, squash etc. from fruits like mango,
pineapple, papaya, golden apple, palmyra
palm etc.

51. Ber chutney
Mango chutney Golden apple
chutney
Tamarind
chutney

52. Processing of Fruits into Jam & Jelly
Pineapple Guava Jackfruit Bael

53.  Standardized the method for preparation of chips
and finger chips from potato, banana and aroids
 Standardized the method for preparation of osmotic
dehydrated product from mango, banana, pineapple,
papaya and jackfruit

54. Banana chips
Processing of Green Banana

55. Pineapple
Banana
Papaya
Mango Jack fruit
Coconut candy

56. Dissemination strategies
Through training (practical demonstration) to the
Agril. Extension Officers/workers, women
entrepreneurs, NGO personnel, VDP groups, school
teachers, unemployed men/women and rural
farmers.
Conducting MOU with Agro-processing industries
Through TOT and end users training organized by
GOs and NGOs
Publishing leaflets, booklets on the technologies.
Status of Technologies

57. 2500 women beneficiaries (Extension workers,
tribal women, members of Women Affairs Dept.,
NGO, VDP groups, school teachers, rural women,
etc) have been trained up on preparation of jam,
jellies, pickles, chutneys and dehydrated products
from different fruits and vegetables.
3 Agro-processing industries (Rajshahi Mango
Products, Al-Fattah Food Products and Jamsco
Food Products) are using BARI technologies.
The SPFS and IHAND project of DAE are using
BARI developed technologies in their project
areas.
Implementation/Extension status

58. Trained women (VDP groups, tribal women and
some NGOs) are preparing various processed
products and their sale in nearby markets and thus
identified processing of fruits and vegetables as an
income generating source. The VDP groups stood
second in the pickles preparing contest organized
by PRAN and The Daily Protham Allow and the
group have been awarded.

60.  Development of postharvest management technologies for
fresh produce and processed product.
 Research on postharvest technologies of fruits and vegetables
for loss reduction, value addition.
 Development of technologies for export oriented fresh
produce and processed products.
 Quality management (evaluation, standardization) of
chemically treated fruits and vegetables.
 Protocol development to detect adulteration and
contamination for fresh produce and processed products.
 Dissemination of matured technologies to the beneficiaries.
Future Research Strategy

61. Postharvest Technological Research Facilities

63. ThankYou