Assessment of Pre and Post Harvest Handling Practices of Mango Fruit in Arba Minch, Southern Ethiopia

Postharvest losses of mango fruits cause huge economic, food and nutritive losses in developing countries. One of the major causes of such losses is poor postharvest handling practices. Observationally study was conducted to assess the awareness of the farmers about the pre and postharvest handling practices causing postharvest loss of mango fruit. From the Arba Minch Zuria Woreda, two administrative Kebeles viz. ‘Chano’ and ‘Lante’ were purposively selected. 80 respondents were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics by employing SPSS software version 20. Pre-harvest practices of mango fruits such as variety selection, mango tree height, mango management training taken, pest and disease infestation were assessed whereas postharvest handling factors such as mechanical injury, physical injury, suitability of harvesting tools, means of transportation, packaging materials, storage conditions, maturity index, postharvest disease and pest were assessed. About 85% of the respondents indicated that local mango is mostly used. Harvesting by hand picking was used by 72.5% whereas harvesting by shaking and beating by poles was adopted by 17.5% and 10% of the respondents, respectively. About 72.5% of the farmers reported mechanical injuries during harvesting, 17.5% of fruits were damaged due to delay in harvesting time while 10% stated that the poor harvesting tools affected the quality. Majority of the respondents (50%) stated that anthracnose was the most prevalent postharvest disease, 45% and 5% respondents were reported bacteria spot and powdery mildew, as problems respectively. About 55% of the respondents used animal driven transportation known as ayiha gari to carry their packaged and unpackaged mango fruit followed by 32.5% on women back. It can be concluded that the awareness of farmers and traders about postharvest handling of perishable crops is very low. Therefore, the present study recommends that there is an urgent need from GO’s, NGO’s and postharvest technology professionals to improve mango farming system and postharvest handling system in the study area.