ASSESSMENT OF POST-HARVEST LOSSES IN FRUITS MARKETING IN PORT HARCOURT, (A CASE STUDY OF FRUIT MARKET D-LINE)

Abstract

The study examined assessment of post-harvest losses in fruit marketing in D/Line Port Harcourt. The objective among others is to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the fruit marketing in D-line, Port Harcourt, to identity the extent of post-harvest market losses among the fruit’s marketers in fruit garden Port Harcourt, to determine the factors that leads to post harvest market losses among fruit marketers in fruit garden in Port Harcourt and to examine the effective management practices that will reduce post-harvest losses. Null hypothesis was used to guide to the study. The population of the study comprised of registered fruit markets in the study area while 25% of the population were randomly selected as the sample size. Descriptive statistics, mean and frequency was in the data analysis. The study revealed from the socio-economic characteristics that there are more youth within the age of 21-30 years that are actively engaged in the fruit market, there are more female in the fruit market, most of the respondents are married and most of the respondents have formal education. The study further revealed that 69.2% of the respondents strongly agreed that climatic factor results to losses of fruits amongst marketers, while 30.8% agreed that climate factors results to losses of fruits amongst marketers. From the responses of the respondents, it is observed that 24.0% disagree to the statement, 37.5% agreed to the statement, while 38.5% strongly agreed to the statement based on the response from the respondents 38.5% showed that the respondents gave a higher response that seasonal demand also is seen as a major factor results to fruits losses amongst fruit marketers. The regression result shows that the semi-log function has the highest R-square of 58.5 percent and was chosen as the lead equation while the remaining 41.5 percent are caused by other factors not included in the model.  The study concluded that over ripped fruits, bad road network and lack of refrigerator are the major causes of post-harvest losses. The study therefore recommends that there should be provision of good road network and special transportation system such as cooling vans to protect fruits, an efficient and effective marketing system should be put in place and proper storage facilities should be adopted to reduce perishability of fruits.