Tomato post-harvest losses as influenced by improper handling facilities in Morogoro, Tanzania

Abstract

The losses on perishables have been a challenge for so long in developing countries, the current status is critical and its control for small-scale farmers and retailers has not been adequately addressed. The aim of this study was to generate information on tomato handling practices and losses for small-scale farmers and retailers in six selected areas in Morogoro region, Tanzania. A need assessment survey was conducted to help gather information on tomato postharvest handling and practices for the purpose of preparing possible mitigation actions. Sixty respondents with at least 3 years of farming or retailing tomatoes were purposively selected through the help of the extension officer and market leaders to represent part of the tomatoes’ handling chain. The SPSS version 16 statistics software was used for data analysis using descriptive statistics. The findings obtained showed that farmers were not using any storage facilities for tomatoes while retailers used inferior handling facilities and some did not use any storage facilities ultimately losing most of their tomatoes. This study found that tomato post-harvest losses (PHLs) were 29.7% at the farmers’ level and 18.4% at the small-scale retailers’ level during handling and marketing. Besides 60-80% of the farmers and 30-80% of retailers were unaware of the existence of Evaporative cooling structures (ECSs) to avert tomato PHLs. However, 60-80% of all respondents indicated the desire to have ECSs used to improve their tomato business. This prompted the need to have ECSs introduced in order to extend the shelf life of tomatoes while maintaining their quality and hence reducing PHLs.