Post harvest problems

One of the major areas in which farmers need to be educated is on the methods to be adopted in harvesting fruits. In the case of mangoes, it is important that the mangoes are plucked using the right technique. Mango is a fruit in which any infection is transmitted from the external environment. One will notice that the mango first starts getting infected around the stem. Hence mangoes when harvested should have at least one inch of stem intact.

The mangoes thus harvested should be placed upside down for at least 10 hours to permit the latex to come out from within, as this would otherwise damage the inside of the fruit. Once the latex is drained the mangoes should be dipped in pesticides in accordance to international standards, which insist on zero residue. Thereafter, the mangoes should be packed taking care that each mango is isolated from the other. Corrugated boxes or craft paper boxes can be used for packing. One reason for doing this is to prevent any spoilt mango from infecting the others. There should also be air circulation between the mangoes when the cartons are kept in the container and the temperature should not be allowed to increase. When placed in refrigerated containers the shelf life is further enhanced by about a month.

Because of the lack of post-harvest technology among the labourers, bananas, which have a good market abroad, have not secured export orders. Bananas require harvesting, packing, crown cutting and fermenting in a controlled atmosphere of 12o C to 15o C in order to develop a beautiful yellow colour.

Oranges from Punjab are an international favourite. But being harvested at distant and remote areas of the state, transportation costs by road have become exorbitant and exporting them from Karachi seems a more feasible option. So is the case with Kashmiri apples. Apples require pre-cooling immediately, that is, six hours after harvesting. But there are very few cold storage facilities around Kashmir and the apples have to be brought down to Delhi or some other nearby city.

Not just a sack of potatoes

Onions find a ready market in the Middle East, Malaysia and Singapore. Since the sailing time to the Middle East is four to seven days, Malaysia seven days and Singapore nine days, exporters prefer to make the shipment in open containers because of the exorbitant costs involved for shipping by reefer containers. It is only in the case of longer distances where the voyage may extend into several weeks that transport is attempted in a reefer container, since the shelf life can be thus extended to several months.

In open containers, onions are exposed to sea air with its high humidity and other unhealthy tropical conditions that lead to their deterioration. However the deterioration causes a loss of 20 to 25 per cent of the cargo. But exporters prefer this wastage since shipment of onions by reefer container is three times as much as the general cargo freight rate, which is not at all feasible. So with the benefit of the lower freight rate, the 20 to 25 per cent loss gets more than adjusted. No doubt the shelf life does get extended upto six months but transporting by reefer containers is considered only for far off places particularly when the overseas buyer agrees to bear the cost.

In the case of potatoes, post harvest technology is as yet undeveloped. After harvesting potatoes should not be exposed to sunlight when warehoused. Otherwise photosynthesis takes place in light and a greenish coloration begins to form beneath the skin. So potatoes have to be transported in dark containers. Farmers, however, are unaware of these factors and need to be educated.

Customs and procedures

At the farm, the container loading operation is carried out in the presence of the zonal central excise officers, who, having sealed the goods in the container, certify the consignment. The containers are then brought down by road to ports such as Mumbai Port or Jawaharlal Nehru Port from where they are shipped to the port of destination. In many cases the foreign importer may insist on obtaining a certificate from the Directorate of Plant Protection, quarantine and storage, in which case a certificate is issued that the goods are “fit for human consumption”. The customs documentation is completed at the port of discharge and the container shipped the same day.

Says Anil James, “Grape is the only fruit, which is being exported in large quantities. These are shipped in 40’ reefer containers. We ship about 800 to 900 containers within a span of six weeks. The reefer container has a continuous power supply of its own that is run by diesel. This facilitates the maintenance of a continuous cold chain. Generally, for loading purposes fruits like grapes are first palletised and kept ready for loading into the container so as to prevent any wastage of time. While loading from the cold storage into the container, there is the likelihood of the grape cargo getting warmed up and losing its freshness. Hence, the operation is completed within 10 to 20 minutes, without much loss of time. To prevent outside heat entering in, air curtains are used at the entrances of the cold storage.”

The best way to go

Reefer containers are fitted with their own power supply for running the refrigeration system, which keeps the cargo inside cooled during transit by road, rail or sea. Once on board they are connected to the vessel’s own power supply. The container itself is a special equipment, which is well insulated with a polyutherine coating that keeps the interiors cool for at least 12 hours after a breakdown or malfunction occurs. This gives ample time to rectify the faults or carry out any necessary repairs to the refrigeration system.

During transportation it is essential to monitor the container cooling system. The reefer container has a part low chart, which provides the temperature graph extending to a period of 30 days. This indicates when the container’s refrigeration system was switched on or off. If there is any malfunction of the refrigeration system or a defective container is found or the goods stored in the container perish, the claims are promptly settled by the shipping company’s underwriters.

Inland Container Depots and Container Freight Stations are rarely an option when it comes to transportation of perishable cargo because of the very limited time available to reach the cargo to the destination. If such cargo were to be sent to the ICDs then one has to get the equipment to load the container, then take it to the ICD, and get the equipment again to unload into the ICD. The ICD manager will despatch them only when he finds it convenient to send the container by rail to the nearest port for shipment.

Perishable cargo can be handled only by very experienced transporters who know how quickly the goods need to move out and who can stick to the tight schedules.

The author is a freelance writer