ISHS Acta Horticulturae 495: WCHR - World Conference on Horticultural Research
POST-HARVEST OF HORTICULTURAL CROPS |
| Author: | M. Herregods | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract:
There is a growing interest in all areas for storage and transportation of horticultural products, because the products are very perishable and because of the long distances between countries and their major export market. Worldwide postharvest fruit and vegetables losses are as high as 30 to 40% and even much higher in some developing countries. Reducing postharvest losses is very important; ensuring that sufficient food, both in quantity and in quality is available to every inhabitant in our planet. The prospects are also that the world population will grown from 5.7 billion inhabitants in 1995 to 8.3 billion in 2025. World production of vegetables amounted to 486 million tonnes, while that of fruits reached 392 million tonnes. Reduction of post-harvest losses reduces cost of production, trade and distribution, lowers the price for the consumer and increases the farmers income. Distribution of vegetables and fruit production in the various regions (in million tonnes)
The increase in prosperous population, the urbanization and the green revolution have enlarged the market for all kind of ornamentals. Postharvest research has a high return. Significant contributions, minimizing the postharvest losses have been made through research on the physiological changes in the product after storage, new longlife varieties, suitable cultivation circumstances, optimum harvesting indices, recommended storage recommendations, precooling refrigerated transport and careful handling. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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