Oluyinka Benedicta Adewoyin

By Oluyinka Adewoyin, Adebayo Ibidapo, Lydia Babatola, Folasayo Fayose, Anthony Ekeocha and Temidayo Apata

After harvesting, fresh fruit’s quality cannot be improved but it can be maintained. Fruits should be harvested at the appropriate maturity stage and size. Harvesting of fruits at improper maturity stage reduces shelf-life. Time of harvest, method of harvest, tools used in harvesting also contribute to the wholesomeness of harvested fruits. Fruits are living organisms that continue their living processes after harvest; therefore, their handling directly affects freshness as well as optimum flavor. Maintaining cool temperatures, appropriate air combination to maintain the quality of fruits, producers, handlers, and retailers are to ensure that fruits going for processing, marketing, or into storage are at the best quality state. Indigenous handling refers to the native, age-long, cultural system of postharvest handling of horticultural crops. Postharvest handling comprises interconnected activities from harvest to sorting, grading, preservation, transportation, packaging, processing, marketing, and decision by the consumer to accept or reject the food. Improvement is the enhancement made on the traditional postharvest handling methods to reduce losses of agricultural produce by at least 5%. Various means have been developed over time to handle and preserve food and particularly fruits over ages of technology advancement from the Stone Age.

Part of the book: Fruit Industry

By Oluyinka Adewoyin, Amos Famaye, Rufus Ipinmoroti, Adebayo Ibidapo and Folasayo Fayose

Pepper belongs to the family Solanaceae. It is cultivated for its pungency, flavor, color, taste, export potential, capsaicin and oleoresin content. It is classified as sweet or hot pepper, depending on the capsaicin content of the fruit. World pepper production was around 3.5 million tons between 2009 and 2019, with 35% from Vietnam as the largest producer and exporter, followed by India and Indonesia. Vietnam pepper production increased progressively by 12.4% in 2014. The country was the major producer, followed by Brazil, Indonesia and India. To enhance adequate supply of pepper fruits and stabilize its soaring price, there must be efficient postharvest handling, processing and preservation methods compatible with the socio-economic and cultural practices of the producer. Data showed that improper postharvest handling of pepper results in huge postharvest losses. With this, handling must be a crucial part of an integrated systematic approach to maintaining the final product’s quality.

Part of the book: Capsicum

By Oluyinka Benedicta Adewoyin

Food security and access to quality food are major challenges in the efforts against global hunger. Despite producing a large amount of food each year to boost the economy, a significant portion is lost due to pre-harvest and postharvest factors affecting produce’s quality and shelf life. Numerous interventions have been implemented to address this to improve postharvest management, but there is still an urgent need to identify and manage the various factors contributing to postharvest losses. Factors contributing to postharvest losses include agents of food deterioration inherent in the produce before harvesting, inappropriate cultural practices, genetic composition, harvesting methods, quality of water for irrigation, microbial invasion, insect pest inoculum remnants and more. Postharvest handling involves interactive activities from harvest to consumer’s final decision to eat or reject the food. Produce quality is determined by local conditions, policies, stakeholders’ cultural practices, market demand, road condition, handling methods, packaging materials, transportation methods and level of knowledge and awareness in that environment. This study is to elucidate, through literature, pre-harvest and postharvest factors affecting quality of harvested produce. This study showed that understanding and appropriate management of pre-harvest and postharvest factors would reduce quality losses and increase the shelf life of produce.

Part of the book: New Advances in Postharvest Technology