• Contact Us
    • Send Feedback
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    Whole Repository
    CollectionsIssue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject
    This Sub-collection
    Issue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject

    My Account

    Login

    Welcome to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Research Repository

    What would you like to view today?

    Post-harvest food losses in a maize-based farming system of semi-arid savannah area of Tanzania

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    JourStoredProdRes.jpg (4.535Kb)
    Date
    2014-04-30
    Author
    Abass, A.B.
    Ndunguru, G.
    Mamiro, P.
    Alenkhe, B.
    Mlingi, N.
    Bekunda, Mateete A.
    Type
    Journal Article
    Target Audience
    Scientists
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract/Description
    An assessment of post-harvest handling practices and food losses in a maize-based farming system in semi-arid areas of Central and Northern Tanzania was carried out in 2012. Seventeen crops were mostly cultivated by the farmers in the surveyed areas; maize (32%), sunflower (16%) and pigeon peas (12%) were the most cultivated while maize was the most stored. There are at least 7 months between two harvest seasons of each crop; while farmers sold the crops soon after harvest to cater for household expenditure (54%) and school fees (38%), the market prices increased significantly (P 0.05) within six months of storage. Most processing activities (winnowing, dehulling, drying, sorting and shelling) were carried out manually, almost entirely by women, but mechanized processing for maize, sunflower, millet, and sorghum were commonly practiced. Quantitative post-harvest losses of economic importance occur in the field (15%); during processing (13e20%), and during storage (15e25%). The main storage pests responsible for the losses are larger grain borers (Prostephanus truncatus), grain weevils (Sitophilus granarius) and, the lesser grain borer (Rhyzopertha dominica). Most of the farmers considered changes in weather (40%), field damage (33%), and storage pests (16%) as the three most important factors causing poor crop yields and aggravating food losses. However, survey results suggest that the farmers’ poor knowledge and skills on post-harvest management are largely responsible for the food losses. 77% of the surveyed farmers reported inadequate household foods and 41% received food aid during the previous year. Increasing farmers’ technical know-how on adaptation of the farming systems to climate variability, and training on post-harvest management could reduce food losses, and improve poverty and household food security.
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2013.12.004
    Multi standard citation
    Permanent link to this item
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12478/574
    Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2013.12.004
    Agrovoc Terms
    Food Security; Farming Systems
    Regions
    Africa; East Africa
    Countries
    Tanzania
    Journals
    Journal of Stored Products Research
    Collections
    • Journal and Journal Articles4835
    copyright © 2019  IITASpace. All rights reserved.
    IITA | Open Access Repository