Assessment of Post-Harvest Losses of Fruits During Marketing in Osogbo Metropolis, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This survey was carried out to examine the post harvest losses in fruits production in Osogbo Metropolis of Osun State. Simple random sampling was used to select sixty (60) fruit marketers, fifteen each from the four selected communities to constitute sample for the study. Primary data were collected from the fruit marketers using a structured interview schedule. Data from the study was analyzed using descriptive analysis. The constraints of high cost of transportation ranked first and this shows that it is a major constraint to fruit marketing, other major constraints are perishable nature of fruits, insufficient knowledge on fruit handling/storage, insufficient capital/poor credit availability. The minor constraints are high postharvest losses and poor demand of fruits by consumers. The problem of insufficient knowledge and skill on handling and storage of fruits was suffered by a high percentage of fruit marketers which in turn leads to high fruit losses. This study recommends that Government and other private investors should invest in postharvest processing technologies and establish processing industries to facilitate fruit processing. Fruit marketers should be adequately trained in the areas of fruit handling and storage by extension agents.