Theme pack
Post-harvest loss and waste can significantly reduce the amount of food available to feed farmers’ families or to sell for income. With hunger rising over the past decade, it’s important to address food loss and waste with good practices for improving post-harvest storage and transportation.
Globally, around 13.2% of food produced is lost between harvest and retail, while an estimated 19% of total global food production is wasted in households, in food service, and in retail all together. September 29 is the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, which is a great time to be talking about these issues. Find stories and resources on food loss and waste on the international day’s website.
And use Farm Radio’s scripts and Barza Wire stories to explore the topic and best practices. In this theme pack, we are sharing 17 backgrounders covering post-harvest practices for a variety of staple crops, legumes, and vegetables, as well as five interview scripts, two series of radio spots, five drama scripts, and nine Barza Wire stories. We hope that at least one of these resources is on a crop grown by farmers in your area.
Backgrounders
How to keep food fresh for longer
Reducing post-harvest loss in maize
Post-harvest activities in pigeon pea
Cowpea post-harvest activities
Production and post-harvest activities for rice in Ghana
Post-harvest management of Irish potatoes
Reducing post-harvest losses in mango
Reducing post-harvest losses in tomatoes
Groundnut value chain in Malawi: post-harvest
Post-harvest activities in cassava
Tomato marketing and transportation
Cassava value chain in Tanzania: Post-harvest
Post-harvest activities in soybeans in Malawi
Good agronomic practices for legume production in Ethiopia, focusing on faba bean
Production and post-harvest activities for sesame
Production and post-harvest practices for organic soybean
Managing pests in stored maize
Interview
Recommended post-harvest actions to maximize soybean quality and value
Post-harvest mango activities, organic mango production, mechanization, and using renewable energy
Farmers adopt eco-friendly, zero-energy storage technique for vegetables in northern Ghana
Groundnut production: The challenges and solutions of drying, sorting, and shelling
Dried and delicious: Solar dryers help growers store fruits and vegetables longer
Radio spots
Avoid post-harvest losses with proper handling
Irish potato production and post-harvest activities
Drama
Protect your rice: Prevent grain loss from harvest to storage
To know the way, ask those who know the directions
Packed and ready to go: Good quality packaging and handling boosts income from tomato sales
Papa Akwesi learns: Careful post-harvest management maximizes maize income
Maize farmers overcome postharvest challenges
Barza Wire
Mali: Women adopt mechanized rice harvesting and drying to reduce post-harvest losses
Mali: Women process rice to reduce post-harvest losses
Nigeria: Farmers dry tomatoes to reduce post-harvest losses
Nigeria: Transporting tomatoes in plastic crates improves shelf life—and farmer income
Tanzania: Farmers dry maize carefully to reduce post-harvest losses
Senegal: Female entrepreneur makes improved storage containers with plastic waste
Tanzania: Adding value improves banana shelf life and boosts farmer incomes
Benin: Grower processes pineapple into natural juices
Senegal: Young entrepreneur wants to revolutionize farming with innovative storage
We hope that this kind of ‘one-stop shop’ on selected topics is useful, and that you can use the resources in this month’s theme pack to make effective programming on post-harvest loss.
Please use and enjoy these resources. Let us know if they’re useful—and exactly how you use them!