Maturity, Quality and Marketing of Fruits and Vegetables

Maturity at harvest is one of the main factors determining the quality of a product. Postharvest technologies deal with separation, sampling, sizing, sorting, grading and marketing operations. These postharvest handling procedures are most important as they may either protect the quality or ruin much that was achieved up to this stage. The fruit and vegetable industry is unique. Dealers handle a product that is very perishable. A one or two day delay in marketing can mean the difference between profit and loss. This paper examines maturity indices for fruits and vegetables, quality of fresh horticultural commodities and marketing of mature and quality agricultural produce. Developing countries need to develop maturity indices, quality standards and organize on governmental or cooperative levels to penetrate the marketing systems of the rich nations