Fruits and vegetables - must focus to bring down wastage & losses: experts

Pakistan could easily earn million of dollars annually by focusing on bringing down wastage in fruits and vegetables by stepping up food processing, according to a study conducted on food wastage. Experts have urged the government to extend financial and technical support towards efforts aimed at controlling increasing post-harvest losses of major crops, especially for horticulture sector.
According to a UN report, globally food wastage is $750 billion in which Pakistan's share may come to five percent. The expression "post-harvest losses" means a measurable quantitative and qualitative loss in a given product. Post-harvest loss is the "degradation in both quantity and quality of a food product during the chain of interconnected activities from the time of harvest to the delivery of food to the consumer (from farm to fork or from crop to consumption) Director, Harvest Tradings, Ahmad Jawad told Business Recorder here on Monday.
He said in a hungry and increasingly competitive world, reducing post-harvest food losses is a major agricultural goal. For highly perishable commodities, such as tomatoes, strawberries, squash, and peaches, as much as 30 percent of the harvested crop may be lost to post-harvest diseases before it reaches the consumer. He, therefore, suggested that the federal government must focus to bring down wastage & losses in fruits and vegetables by stepping up food processing. "I believe half of Pakistan's food wastage is equal to the total food consumption of the UK, he said.
"Pakistan food processing industry has the potential to uplift the farmer, bring down inflation, turn into a hub for skill training, and earn revenue", he added. Jawad said, "Ministry of National Food & Security must ensure that in the coming years, the wastage is turned into processed food so that the farmer could get a better price and he does not have to throwaway his yield. Processing industry is like a catalyst.
There is a need to process food when it is surplus and supply it back to the market at a reasonable price. This will ensure there is no inflation in perishable products such as onion and in tomatoes. Food processing sector could also act as a hub for skill training where even illiterate people could be trained, creating a huge employment opportunity, as investments made to save food.
Economically feasible technology such as on-farm low cost storage (structures) hydro cooling, MAP, CA storage seems to be appropriate. Sorting and grading are pre-requisite for appropriate packaging and market distribution. Low cost energy efficient on farm storage structures are to be introduced on extensive scale. Packaging has to be cost effective. Dehydration of vegetables and fruits is to be introduced as cottage industry. Preservation and processing of vegetables and fruits both at semi-commercial and commercial scale needs to be carried out. Better produce handling and management would ensure regular market supply and the consumers will enjoy affordable prices. This will also help promote export of high value perishable commodities to other countries. He also urged a well co-ordinated R&D programme on produce handling and marketing at national level is also essentially required.