Background: Tomato has significant economic importance in Ethiopia. Although quantitative evidence is limited, postharvest loss in tomato is considerably high. This study presents qualitative and quantitative postharvest losses of tomato. The study was conducted in 2015 in two districts (Bora and Dugda) located in East Shewa Zone of Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia, located southeast of Addis Ababa. Primary data were collected from producers (smallholder farmers) and traders via household survey, focus group discussions and key informant interviews as well as estimation of losses based on samples. Secondary data and information were collected from published and unpublished sources.
Results:Results indicate that tomato production is being done by relatively young married individuals who have at least primary level education. About three-quarter of land holding is allocated for vegetable production, which largely takes place under irrigation during dry season. All sample producers sold more than 95% of their tomato produce, mostly to wholesalers as compared to collectors and retailers. Postharvest losses occur at collectors, wholesalers and retailers level. The finding indicates that more than 16% of respondents encounter produce losses due to high incidence of diseases, insect pest and mechanical injuries, each of them accounting for more than 20% of postharvest losses.
Conclusions:The findings from our study underscore that the ability of actors to mitigate postharvest losses is limited due to lack of technical know-how. They also lack necessary support and complementary resources to improve postharvest handling practices and technology.
<p>Precooling and postharvest application of calcium chloride (CaCl<sub>2</sub>) on produce has positive effects in maintaining the produce quality during storage. However, there is variation in the response of the produce to different CaCl<sub>2 </sub>concentrations<sub>. </sub>As a result, there is need to establish optimal concentrations of calcium chloride that can extend postharvest life of targeted produce. Fresh good quality produce (tomatoes, carrots, courgettes and African eggplants) of uniform size and maturity were harvested and sampled into four portions. One was a control, hydrocooled with water only at 2±1 <sup>0</sup>C and the others were hydrocooled with water containing CaCl<sub>2</sub> at 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%. After hydrocooling, tomatoes, African eggplants and courgettes were stored at 10 <sup>0</sup>C, while carrots were stored at 7 <sup>0</sup>C, all at 95% constant relative humidity, and sampled every two days for quality assessment. Weight loss, chilling injury, vitamin c and beta-carotene loss were reduced by application of calcium chloride. Titratable acidity decrease and increase in total soluble solids and specific sugars was also slowed by application of CaCl<sub>2</sub>.</p>
High tomato losses in the fruit supply chain can be prevented by use of improved or new technologies but these are not usually adopted where adoption behavior is barely known. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Technology Acceptance Model, this study analyses socio-psychological factors that influence the adoption behavior of traders on new postharvest handling technology, as exemplified by the use of lining material for improving tomato packaging in Tanzania. The study results conclude that the perceived behavioral control and subjective norm were the most important factors explaining respondents’ behavioral intention. Attitude, though found not to be a significant determining factor, was however significantly influenced by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. As technology adoption is a prerequisite for structural transformation of developing economies, our results provide new insights in the field of behavioral acceptance research in the tomato production sector of relevant developing countries.
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