Essel pj

VALLEY VIEW UNIVERSITYTECHIMAN CAMPUS

RESEARCH PROPOSAL PRESENTATION

ON

ASSESMENT OF POST-HARVEST LOSSES AND HANDLING OF TOMATOES IN THE

OFFINSO-NORTH MUNICIPALITY

PRESENTED BY:

ESSEL AMA EUNICE

211AB02000002

OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSAL

• INTRODUCTION• LITERATURE REVIEW• PROBLEM STATEMENT• AIM AND OBJECTIVES• METHODOLOGY• EXPECTED OUTCOME• WORK PLAN• REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

• Tomato is a fruit crop which originated as a wild form of fruit in the Peru- Ecuador; Bolivia area of the Andes. it was first cultivated by the Aztecs and Incas as early as 700AD. the latin name of this crop is lycopersicon escutetum, meaning edible wolf's peach. it became globally accepted in the18th century (seymour et al, 1993).

• Tomato is globally cultivated for its fleshy fruits and also known as protective food because of the nutritive value and its wide spread production, it is the world's largest vegetable crop after potato and it top the list of canned vegetables. (hobson, 1993)

INTRODUCTION • In Ghana tomato grows well in both the humid and savanna

areas; tomato requires warm template zones or areas and has a relatively short growing season. Commercial tomato production in Ghana is concentrated in the Ashanti region and Brong Aharfo region, with Akomadan, in the North-offinso, Ashanti region as its major producer (kallon1991).

• The loamy sandy soil of the Offinso-north are ideal for growing this crop thought it sometimes does well in the loamy silt soils of the Brong Aharfo region. A well drainage soil is what most farmers prefer in the cultivation of this crop. Due to climate and rainfall pattern in the Offinso-North District major cultivation is done there.

INTRODUCTION• Record study shows that (Hobson, 1993), the largest

production of tomato comes from the central part of Ghana, particularly in Offinso North and Techiman. On centering on the Akomadan district, large quantities of tomatoes are produced between November and March.

• Due to its peak production for the country, problems

that faces the crop has being put to thought and solutions are being addressed to it. Some of these problems has been noticed to be the post- harvest looses and handling of this crop.

INTRODUCTION• Although there has been various solutions like; providing

farmer with the right tool to harvest, this problem still pends, and this is why there is a need to be a study on the post-harvest looses and handling, most Ghanaians use the tomato crop almost everyday, in the sauces, soups and even sometimes eats it raw, by either grinding together with pepper and onion.

• Due to how well the vegetable has being known to the people, there is always a demand for the crop in whichever form, and this shows how well much attention should be given to the crop to prevent damage of the crops always whiles handling after harvesting.

LITERATURE REVIEW

• Taxonomy of Tomato – Tomato, as a member of the solanum genus, belongs to the solanoidaeae

sub- family, and tribe solaneae.(Taylor, 1986).– The genus includes a small collection of cultivated and wild species like

S.lycopersicon Mili, S. pimpinellifollium, S. cheesemannii. – The leaves of the crop contains toxic alkaloids, which makes it unedible for

human consumption.– Lycopersicon esculentum is the botanical of the tomato, it can also be called

Love apple;the crop belongs to the solanaceae family (that is the night shade family. like the pepper and garden eggs).

– It comes in a wild range of shapes, sizes and color; some may be oval, heart, elongated, red, yellow, orange and sometimes brown.(wilkinson et al,1995).

– The tomato loves sun, and is grown as a warm weather annual crop, although it is actually a tender perennial. Tomato as an annual herb is mostly 2m-3m tall, the stem are hairy with strong odor. The terminal bud often becomes an inflorescence and growth usually is continued by auxiliary bud.

LITERATURE REVIEW

- Due to this when not well harvest and properly at the recommended temperature, does not keep long and looks fresh, retracting good price to itself, most of the assembly women who trade in the tomato patronage say ”its best sold in small, medium and even sometimes big boxes, made of wood,(tomato women association, 2011), and this help the harvested crop to last longer than its assumed life span” .

LITERATURE REVIEW• Varieties• The Indeterminate: the vines of this grows constantly

throughout the season• Large determinate: vines grow to a good size, but increase

little more after that.• Determinate: vine stays small to a medium size, no matter how

much you nourish and whatever treatment given to it.• The fruits of these plants are international favorites and there

are more varieties sold of it than of any other vegetable. They may be eaten cooked or eaten directly as raw vegetable or consumed in a variety of processed products like ketch-up, sauce, chutney, juice, diced, paste, soup and etc.

LITERATURE REVIEW

• Nutritional Value• It is a rich source of vitamin A and C, and also contains minerals like

iron, phosphorus, source of dietary fibers antioxidant like lycopene and beta-carotene.

• Tomato has a medicinal property, which is most of the time used in the treatment of ulcer. it is also a cholestrol lowering fruit. Experts counseled that, a diet rich in tomato is also a cheap way to reduce circulating cholestrol in the blood; reported by Sade Oguntaola.

This is a developmental process that is exclusive to plants whereby mature seed-bearing organsFruit ripening;

undergo physiological and metabolic changes that promotes seed dispersal (seymour et al, 1993).

PROBLEM STATEMENT

• A major problem observed in the production and distribution is that, in the cities and urban areas, the cost of the fruit is higher as compared to the producing areas.

• The crop is noticed to be always available in the producing area and its surrounding farming communities; price are affordable low in these areas as compared to the big cities.

• There are several cases where the tomatoes rot in abundance in the boxes and have to be dumped into the bins(Stanely et al 1998).

• There has being a reported case where farmers complain of poor returns , due to the losses

• How the crop is being handled at all levels and harvested, has also being noticed to be a result of the early rotting of the crop. A question is asked when these cases arise; is it the transportation or varieties that are being produced? Or the way of harvesting, or the handling? Farmers at the Akomadan district, are still having a problem which needs to be attended to.

JUSTIFICATION

Owing to the deplorable state of our road networks, fruits that are able to make it to the market do not last for long as they are usually injured or damage. This also brings sellers low profit. Also the lack of processing plant for the produce is a hindering factor to production as quantity produced is not fully exploited. Due to the diverse product of which the fruit can be put, its shelve life is increased. The product is bought from the door steps of farmers by these processing and manufacturing companies, and it is complementarily by the fact that; their road networks are better off than ours. Markets outside of Ghana is higher in the western and this can be exploited by minimizing post-harvest loses/ handling, and working on improving our storage facilities, harvesting the crop well and having good transportation of the crop from the farm to the primary buyers.

JUSTIFICATIONTomato is one of the most demanding vegetable in Ghana and western part of the world. Burkina Faso is a major supplier to Ghana as far as tomato consumption is concerned. Local production is unable to meet the demand since most of the product is left to rot on farm sites due to poor road network linking to farms, and the markets in the rural and urban areas. This prevents purchasers from purchasing it from farmers as the cost tends to increase due to the state of the roads. The perishable nature of the fruit also forms part of the reasons why local production is not able to meet the market demand.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim of this study is to assess post harvest handling and losses of tomato at all levels through which it passes through before it reaches the final consumer, in Akomadan, the offinso- North District.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES• To examine the varieties grown• To assess the harvesting technique of the tomatoes• To investigate the handling of tomatoes at the primary,

secondary and tertiary level.• To investigate the availability of storage facilities within

the farming communities.

METHODOLOGY

• Suggested and assumed method which will be used in gathering information and data for this study will involve materials like: a camera, pen and a paper, graph, charts and designed questionnaires,

• Study Area: The area of the study will be at the Akomadan, a small town, and a capital of the offinso- North, a district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

METHODOLOGY

GROUPS NUMBER OF PEOPLE

Farmers 15

Laborers 10

Cleaners at the farm 6

Primary Buyers 15

Secondary Buyers 5

Store keepers 4

Tertiary buyers 5

METHOD There will be a random sampling of 55 people;

METHODOLOGY

DATA COLLECTION• The data collection of the information needed fo

the study will be by• Personal interviews with farmers, with these

questionnaires:• Personal observation whiles activities are on-going.• Middlemen patronizing in the tomato

transportation• One on one interview with the secondary buyers.

METHODOLOGY

ANALYSIS OF THE DATA:• there will be an in-depth comparism of the collected data.• Identification of the relationships between various data

that will help me understand more about my respondent and guide me to better decision making.

• Comparing the observed activities with what is being told by the farmers and harvesters. All depending on the objective I need to attain from my respondents,

• all the above analysis will involve graph, chart, tables and figures.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

• At the end of the study, the following output should be achieved;

• The cause or reason of the post-harvest losses in the tomato fruit.

• The disadvantages of not using well equipment in storing the tomatoes and how that is contributing to the post-harvest losses.

• The best harvesting technique to help in the reduction of the losses and

• The best way of handling the crop during the transportation of the crop through the various ways.

ACTIVITIES SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY

4TH 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

LITERATURE REVIEW

VISITDATA

COLLECTION

1. FARMERS2. LABOURERS

3. STORE KEEPERS

4. PRIMARY BUYERS

5. SECONDARY BUYERS

ANALYSIS OF DATA AND EDITING

REVIEW OF PREVIOUS

DRAFTED WORK

CHAPTER 4 & 5 DRAFTINGOVERVIEW OF

STUDY & REFRENCING

REFERENCES1. www.google.com,Seymour et al (1993). 6th october, 20132. Stanely et al (1998). Vegetables of warm climate,

www.google.com.3. Boadu D.Q.(1998)fruits and Vegetable crops production,

Accra, Ghana.