An Overview of Post-Harvest Losses in Tomato Production in Africa: Causes and Possible Prevention Strategies

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important crop cultivated and consumed worldwide.  It provides a wide variety of nutrients and many health-related benefits to the human body. Tomato production can improve the livelihoods of small-scale producers by creating jobs and serving as source of income for both rural and peri-urban dwellers. Despite all these benefits, many constraints make tomatoes production unprofitable in Africa. Post-harvest looses is one of such constraints. Post-harvest losses have been found to be either an on-farm or off-farm problem. On-farm losses are caused by improper harvesting stages, excessive field heat, improper harvesting containers, poor farm sanitation and improper packaging materials. Causes of off-farm losses includes lack of access roads, inappropriate transportation system, lack of processing factories and lack of reliable market information. Using low-cost intermediate technology intervention can help reduce some of these post-harvest losses making tomato production a more profitable venture in Africa.

Keywords: Post-harvest, Losses, Tomatoes.