Management strategies to reduce postharvest losses of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in Morogoro, Tanzania
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Date
2019
Authors
Samwel, T
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine university of agriculture
Abstract
Lack of simple storage facilities in tomato supply chain contributes to high postharvest
losses of tomato in Tanzania. In the field, harvested tomatoes are left in an open area
and occasionally covered with grasses or sometimes under shade trees. Refrigerated
storage structures are relatively expensive to build and operate; and most people living
in rural areas cannot afford. This study was conducted to determine the effect of on
farm storage technology (zero energy cool chamber) with different harvesting stages
and the transportation effect on tomato postharvest losses. Comparisons were made on
deterioration of physiological weight and marketability of the fruits over time between
storage in zero energy cool chamber (ZECC) and ambient conditions. Tomato
harvested at mature green stage and stored under ZECC conditions exhibited
significantly (p = 0.00) longer shelf life. Only 5% of fruits physiological weight loss
was recorded in 12 days. Under ambient conditions, shelf life of tomato fruits was
between 5-8 days depending on harvesting maturity stage. The loss in marketability and
physiological weight exhibited similar trend. Use of wooden crates during
transportation of tomato from farm to a marketplace contributed much on on-transit
losses of tomato. The losses may be attributed to constant friction between tomato
surface and hardened crates. The effect of lining materials in reducing these losses was
assessed. The lining materials under observation included brown paper, hessian cloth
and sponged paper. Wooden crates lined with hessian cloth had the lowest loss
(10.6%). A significant (p < 0.0001) number of damaged tomato fruits were found in
crates with no lining. Cost benefit analysis showed that for transport of 36 wooden
crates carrying 1.44 tons of tomato, the net profit when crates are lined with hessian
cloth was 118 000 TZS compared to crates with no lining materials which was a loss of
12 000 TZS.
Description
Keywords
Postharvest, Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), Postharvest loss reduction, Morogoro, Tanzania