Articles
Postharvest handling practice in the South Pacific and its implications on local food systems
Article number
1364_36
Pages
271 – 280
Language
English
Abstract
Commercially sourced fresh horticultural product has become increasingly important in the South Pacific, driven by urban population drift, low agricultural productivity, and adverse weather events.
Relatively little is known about Pacific commercial horticultural food systems and their associated postharvest handling practice.
In 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Union (EU) initiated a series of country-specific studies to map horticultural value chains, quantify horticultural postharvest loss, and identify potential loss contributors.
These studies involved semi-structured vendor and farmer interviews, and rapid value chain assessments undertaken in Solomon Islands, Samoa and Tonga, and Vanuatu, over a five-year period (2015 to 2020). This paper seeks to consolidate the current knowledge on Pacific horticultural postharvest handling practices and associated food loss gleaned from these studies.
We found that postharvest loss in Pacific horticultural value chains is commonly between 10 and 15%, with most of this loss concentrated at the market end of the chain.
While Pacific horticultural value chains involve significant postharvest risk, loss tends to be relatively low due to short transport distance, strong farmer-vendor networks, and small volumes of product traded.
With limited access to postharvest infrastructure, Pacific horticultural value chains tend to rely on fast-to-market and rapid market throughput as their primary strategy to mitigate against elevated postharvest loss.
We believe that enabling vendors and markets to better align with consumer purchasing behavioural trends; and identifying local best practice are critical to reducing food loss in the Pacific.
Relatively little is known about Pacific commercial horticultural food systems and their associated postharvest handling practice.
In 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Union (EU) initiated a series of country-specific studies to map horticultural value chains, quantify horticultural postharvest loss, and identify potential loss contributors.
These studies involved semi-structured vendor and farmer interviews, and rapid value chain assessments undertaken in Solomon Islands, Samoa and Tonga, and Vanuatu, over a five-year period (2015 to 2020). This paper seeks to consolidate the current knowledge on Pacific horticultural postharvest handling practices and associated food loss gleaned from these studies.
We found that postharvest loss in Pacific horticultural value chains is commonly between 10 and 15%, with most of this loss concentrated at the market end of the chain.
While Pacific horticultural value chains involve significant postharvest risk, loss tends to be relatively low due to short transport distance, strong farmer-vendor networks, and small volumes of product traded.
With limited access to postharvest infrastructure, Pacific horticultural value chains tend to rely on fast-to-market and rapid market throughput as their primary strategy to mitigate against elevated postharvest loss.
We believe that enabling vendors and markets to better align with consumer purchasing behavioural trends; and identifying local best practice are critical to reducing food loss in the Pacific.
Authors
S.J.R. Underhill, S. Kumar, L. Joshua, S. Patolo, S. Molimau-Samasoni, S. Burkhart
Keywords
horticulture, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, smallholder farmer, food loss
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