Post-Harvest Management of Horticultural Crops: Reducing Losses and Enhancing Food Security

WELCOME
Umesh Timilsina
Assistant Professor
Department of Horticulture
CNRM, Bardibas, Mahottari
Agriculture and Forestry University
Post-harvest Management of
Horticultural Crops

Short Introduction
Name: Umesh Timilsina
Designation: Assistant Professor
Address: Changunarayan-8, Bhaktapur
Bachelor: IAAS, Lamjung Campus (2010-2014)
Masters: AFU, Rampur (2014-2016)
PhD: AFU (Running)
Experience:
 Assistant Lecturer: 4.5 years (PU-GPCAR)
 Assistant Professor: 4.5 years (AFU)

Introduction
 Post-harvest horticulture refers to the handling, storage,
processing, and marketing of horticultural crops after they
have been harvested.
 It plays a crucial role in maintaining the quality, extending
shelf life, and reducing losses of fruits, vegetables, flowers,
and other perishable plant products.
 Horticultural produce are highly perishable commodities due
to high moisture content and higher metabolic activities.
 Spoilage occur due to Physical factors, biochemical factors
and entomological factors i.e. microbial attack, auto-
oxidation and insect pest attack
 As a result, about 25-30% of the production is lost after
harvest (loss of about 15-20% in non- perishable and 20-30%
in perishables)

Contd…
 The role of Postharvest Horticulture is important
for:
 Reduction of post harvest losses of fruits and
vegetables and to make them available for longer
period in the market.
 Minimize losses of horticultural crops and their
products between production and consumption
 Reduction of postharvest losses:
Increases food availability to the growing
human population,
 Decreases the area needed for production and
Conserves natural resources

 PHT can be defined as methods and techniques
applied to increase the shelf – life and retain
quality and safety of fresh or processed
horticultural produce after harvest.
 PHT deals about all the practices that are done after
the harvest of the produce till consumption.
 The practices which are done to minimize the food
loss after harvest.
Contd…

Summary Timeline
Period Key Characteristic
Before 1950
Traditional storage & local
consumption
1950–1985 Institutional beginning
1985–2005 Research & commercialization
2005–Present Value chain & modernization

Status of Post harvest horticulture in Nepal
 Perishable natures of most horticultural commodities
demand good postharvest technologies and knowledge.
 Proper postharvest handling is an additional or
complementary method of solving food needs.
 We can feed more people without bringing an additional
land under production.
 Postharvest losses have been estimated from 20 to 35% for
fresh fruits and vegetables and could exceed 50% under
adverse conditions.
 Fruits: 20-35%
 Vegetables: 15-30%
 Losses were reported to vary between 20-30% for apple,
between 15-20% for citrus, between 10-15% for tomatoes
and between 10-15% cauliflower.

 Losses in fruits and vegetables result from harvesting at
an improper stage of maturity, direct packing and
shipping without the removal of field heat, improper
packaging and insufficient grading and sorting, poor
transportation and handling and poor storage
facilities.
 Fruits are generally harvested by shaking trees or by
hitting with a stick.
 The majority of losses occur during transportation
from the farm yard to the collection center and
thereafter to the wholesale market and retail outlets.
 Transportation loss of different fruits and vegetables
from the border of Nepal to different Indian markets
ranged from 15-36% depending on commodity:

Commodity Loading, Unloading
and transportation
(%)
Storage (%) Wholesale and
Retail Marketing
(%)
Total (%)
Fruits 10-15 - 10-20 20-35
Vegetables 5-10 - 10-20 15-30
Potatoes 5 5-10 5-10 15-20
Losses of horticultural products at different stages:
Kaini 2002

Current Status
Post-harvest losses in fruits &
vegetables: 15–30% (crop dependent).
Cold chain still underdeveloped.
Weak grading and standardization at
farm level.
Increasing private sector investment in:
oControlled atmosphere storage
oCollection centers
oProcessing units

Importance of Post Harvest Technology
 Each year, 30 percent of global food production is lost
after harvest.
 Reducing food loss means we avoid using natural resources
in the first place, leaving them available for next harvest or
future generations.
 If we had to pay the bill to nature, what would food
wastage cost us?
▪ The full economic, environmental and social costs of
food waste amount to approximately 2.6 trillion US
dollars annually.

Importance of Post-harvest technology
1. Increased food supply
PHM of produce include proper handling, packaging,
storage, transportation and marketing, which can
increase shelf-life and reduce the overall spoilage
PHM possess modern technologies like refrigerated
storage, controlled and modified storage, and
irradiation, which also increase the shelf-life of
produce appreciably.
PHM can save the produced food from spoilage for
consumption and thereby help in increasing the food
supply.

2. Offseason availability
 All most all commodities are seasonal in nature.
 During production period, there is surplus
products in the market
 But during other season, there is scarcity of the
produce.
 By storage technology, we can make them surplus
in offseason also.
3. Higher price
 Higher price of horticultural commodities during
offseason
Contd…

4. Nutritional Security and Better health
Several essential nutrition are required for human
health
Fruits and vegetables are the rich source of
vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibers
All round availability
PHM saves several minerals and vitamins from
being lost, and thus PHM is the only solution for
nutritional security of growing population of the
country
Contd…

5. Employment Generation
PHM activities such as harvesting, sorting, grading, and
packaging can provide gainful employment to unskilled
and skilled people.
Processing of surplus and cull fruits and vegetables also
generate employment.
6. Value Addition and product diversification
Surplus and cull fruits and vegetables can be processed
into several value added products.
PHM and processing can add value to the fresh as well
processed products and the producer or farmer can get
good return of his produce.
Contd…

7. Export Earning
 Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary (SPS) excellence is essential
for marketing in international market.
 PH helps to ensure SPS.
 It is mainly because of good post harvest management
practices, quality maintenance throughout the marketing
channel and basic infrastructure of export.
 Post-harvest horticulture is a key driver of export
earnings, enabling countries to maximize the value of
their agricultural produce, reduce losses, and maintain
high-quality standards.
 By adopting advanced post-harvest technologies, countries
can enhance their global competitiveness, strengthen their
economies, and create sustainable livelihoods for millions
involved in the horticultural value chain.

8. Rural Industrializations
Post harvest management and processing is
essential for horticultural industry
PHM can take care of all possible wastage during
distributional channel
Development of processing industry and
packaging house units in the rural areas will help
in rural industrialization as well.
Contd…

9. Resource saving
▪ used water for irrigation and increased water
scarcity
▪ cleared forests and eroded land
▪ Input saving
10. Garbage disposal and environment protection
 If food loss is minimum there will be less problem
of garbage disposal.
 wasted food still:
▪ caused greenhouse gas emissions and climate
change and pollution
Contd…

11. Economic Benefit
 20-50% loss of commodities during Post harvest
 We can save thousands tons of fruits and vegetables by
preventing loss
 Reduction of loss is more economical rather than to
increase in production
 It is difficult to increase 10% yield but it is easy to
reduce 10% loss
 Supply of fruits and vegetables can be significantly
increased without bringing additional land and other
inputs for production
Contd…

Q: In Nepal, the estimated yield of citrus per year is 80,000
metric tons. If the existing loss is 30%, what is the amount
of loss? Prove which is more economical.
a. To reduce 10% reduction in existing losses or
b. To increase 10% yield with existing 30% loss.
 a: Reducing 10% loss (from 30% to 20%) then,

Now, comparing the results:
• Reducing 10% loss results in 64,000 metric tons
available.
• Increasing 10% yield results in 61,600 metric tons
available.
Since Reducing loss provides a higher net availability
(64,000 > 61,600), it is the more economical option.

 From the above calculation it is proved
that with 10% loss reduction we have net
availability 64,000 M ton which is greater
than 61,600 M ton (10 % increase in
yield with existing 30 % losses).
 In addition, the investment to be made to
increase 10% yield costs another further
curtails of profit.
 Thus it is more economical to reduce
the loss than to increase the yield at
same loss rate.

Main factors responsible for
loss
 Harvesting of immature or over mature products
 Traditional and faulty harvesting techniques
 Exposure of products to sun after harvest
 Rough handling of the products
 Dumping of products on heap at collection centers
 Minimum sorting/grading of damaged products at
the selling and collection centers
 Mishandling during packaging
 Use of improper packages during transportation
from collection centers to wholesale markets
 Use of ordinary trucks and buses for transportation

 Rough road conditions
 Rough handling during loading and unloading
 Use of ordinary rooms for storing the fruits and
vegetables at the wholesale market and retail market
 Display of fruits and vegetables on the open ground
during selling at wholesale and retail markets
Contd…

What can be done?
 Reducing food loss by raising awareness in
every actor of value chain
 Investing in improved post-harvest
infrastructures
 Food that is about to be wasted on the market
can timely redirected to other sector
 Research on different aspects of PH
 Extension of proven practices

One of the main issue
 There is always abundance of produce at the
production site but scarcity at the consumption place
 Grower’s sale their produce at the lowest minimum
price due to fear of spoilage
 Middleman in the market takes heavy share, which
increases the price of commodity many times
 Consumer purchases the same commodities at a very
high price in the cities.
 Training to growers in PHM activities can overcome
this situation
 Hence, growers will get a good price for their produce
and consumers will have to pay a reasonable low price

National issues and Problems in reduction of
post harvest losses in Nepal
 Small and scattered production pockets
 Lack of co-ordination between research and
extension system
 Inadequate postharvest technologies and storage
facilities
 Inadequate technical personnel on postharvest
technology
 Inadequate attention of government agencies
 Lack of private sector involvement
 Infrastructure development

🔎 Major Constraints
Poor rural roads
Lack of cold chain
Inadequate technical knowledge
Traditional packaging
Weak market linkages
Limited processing industries
🌱 Future Direction
Digital market platforms
Export-oriented production (India, Bangladesh)
Controlled atmosphere storage
Integrated value chain development
Reduction of post-harvest losses below 10%


Thank You
Zero food loss and Zero
hunger is the main aim of Post
Harvest Horticulture

Assignment-1
1. Describe the scope, importance and constraints
of Postharvest horticulture in Nepal.
2. Write down the status of postharvest
horticulture in Nepal.
3. Justify with example that “Reduction of loss is
more economical rather than to increase in
production.”

Post-Harvest Management of Horticultural Crops: Reducing Losses and Enhancing Food Security

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