A Detailed Review on Common Causes of Postharvest Loss and Quality Deterioration of Fruits and Vegetables in Ethiopia

The loss of foods in the post-harvest system is not new; it has always been a problem for mankind. In these days of rapidly enlarging population in the developing countries of the world where food is already short, there is an increasing urgency to do a better job of conserving mankind food supply in order to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Losses of fruit and vegetables are occurring from the field to the fork and even pre-harvest practices are strongly affects the magnitude of losses that occur at a later stage. Postharvest loss is the issue of food security in many developing countries like Ethiopia and it is the concerns of all people. Severe fruits and vegetables postharvest loss and quality deterioration mainly occurred during harvesting, marketing, transporting, processing and storage which leads to reduction in producers out puts, unavailability of food, malnutrition, effects on the economy of the people and the country. There is high magnitude of loss in fruits and vegetables crops as compared to other due to the nature of the crops. Many scientific studies were reported that numerous causes and the extent of the loss particularly, in fruits and vegetables. This might be because of financial, managerial and technical knowledge limitations in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions, infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems. In order to minimize these problems, the appropriate agricultural techniques such as the general principles of extending shelf-life of these crops must be put in place. There should be proper management of temperature, humidity and effective methods for preventing these losses. Since most national governments acknowledge that postharvest food losses is complex, therefore, it requires a commitment to an integrated approach, involving numerous organizations, including local communities and groups. As a general, this can be used as a good indication as all concerned bodies should aim for development of effective and efficient policies and strategies to solve existing problems. So the main objective of this review is to find out the concepts and problems of post-harvest food losses in perishable crops. Keywords: Ethiopia, Fruits, Postharvest loss, Quality deterioration, Vegetables DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/87-01 Publication date:May 31st 201