Post-harvest loss is a great concern in Nigeria, although the country is rich in agricultural produce, food insecurity remains a huge problem. The majority of farm produce is lost to pests, rodents, and deterioration, due to lack of proper handling, post-harvest processing, packaging and storage. Post-harvest losses are as high as 40% in some cases, according to statistics by the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI).
Perishables like tomato, paw paw and other vegetables and fruits have constantly faced spoilage; not only does this deprive farmers of income and consumers of food, but it also deprives the nation of a constituent part of it Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Widespread tomato losses in parts of the north, for instance, were caused by destructive disease Tuta absoluta.
Local and multilateral agencies have shown concern about this problem. The tomato, has drawn attention from World Bank partners, Growth and Empowerment in States (GEMS4) of the UK Department of Foreign and International Development (DFID) to Dangote Group of Companies' DANSA, which has substantial investment in Kano.
In light of the huge losses of tomato, stakeholders discussed ways to develop the value chain, especially expanding the assistance to farmers' organisations. A workshop addressed how to improve their technical and managerial skills, agricultural extension, training in several areas including storage and transportation.
The overall plan was to work toward unlocking the huge potential in the tomato value chain, like in several other crops. The objective would also be to reduce losses and import of the product as well as boost agriculture in the country.
Food security and postharvest loss
Stakeholders agree that increasing food production is a worthy target to be pursued, but not necessarily an answer to attaining food security. Good harvesting should be followed by proper post-harvest operations to reduce losses, they stated.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that the reduction of post-harvest losses by 50 per cent could do a number of things, such as reduce food importation into the country.
Food supply would also be increased without deploying more land, inputs, water and even labour, while the livelihood of farmers and agro-processors would improve.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201601180787.html
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