Assessment of the Causes and Effects of Post-harvest Losses of Fruits among Rural Farmers in North-Central, Nigeria
Ukohol, F.Y.,1* Nwaobiala, C. U.2* and Iornenge, G.M3*
ABSTRACT
The study assessed post-harvest losses of selected fruits among rural farmers in North-Central, Nigeria. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were employed to select 182 fruit farmers from 4865 registered fruit farmers from Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi States ADP. Primary data were collected through the use of well-structured questionnaire and analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Results show that 75.3% of the respondents were males, married (58.2%), educated (64.3%) with a mean age of 45 years and a mean household size of 6 persons. Major causes of post-harvest losses of fruits were; lack of proper storage facilities (=3.69), lack of agro-based industries (3.63%), poor transportation facilities (=3.59), high temperature (=3.59) and microbial attack (=3.58). Findings also indicate that reduce income of farmers (=3.69), environmental pollution/degradation (=3.60), increased food insecurity (3.59) were the major effects of post-harvest losses of fruits in the area. ANOVA result showed a significant difference in quantity (p=0.004) and monetary lost (p=0.013) of fruits at 5.0% level of probability each across the states. The study concluded that post-harvest losses of fruits in the area were caused by many strong factors and also has serious negative effects on the farmers. It was recommended that Government and private sector should establish agro- processing industries in rural areas for fruits in order to reduce post-harvest losses, maximize profit and improve their living standard.
Keywords: Assessment, Post-harvest, Losses, Management, Strategies, fruits
