ASSESSMENT OF POSTHARVEST CHALLENGES OF MANGO FRUITS IN UPPER ATHI RIVER BASIN, KENYA

Abstract

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the valuable fruits in Kenya. Mango fruits are potential source of household income for the resource poor farmer, foreign exchange earnings and raw material for mango processing industry. Despite the growing economic importance of mango in Kenya, mango fruits are riddled with many constraints along the postharvest chain. During postharvest handling of mangoes at least 40-45% of the fruits are lost. To ascertain possible postharvest constraints facing mango fruits a baseline survey was conducted in Upper Athi River Basin with 11 Locations in Machakos and Makueni County being selected for the study. The study involved farmers who were over 30 years of age with majority of them having mango farming experience between 6-10 years and secondary level of education (55%). Well-structured questionnaires were used for abstracting information about postharvest challenges in mangoes. The results showed that methods of harvesting ready mangoes included; tree climbing, with 65% farmers practiced this method, 23% used hooks and sticks, 7% by tree shaking and a few (5%) by simply waited for the fruits to fall. 40% of farmers used gunny bags to carry harvested mangoes. Other types of packaging used included; cartoons and boxes (37%), plastic crates (18%), baskets (3%) and sisal bags (2%). 63% of the respondents did not have stores for harvested mangoes, 25% of them stored their produce in their houses, 7% in barns and 5% in stores. 95% of the respondents could not store their produce more than a week while the remaining (5%) could store for 2 weeks. Most of the respondents (40%) reported postharvest losses between 30- 40%. In addition, 95% of the respondents require a special storage facility for mangoes. Thus, poor harvesting methods, lack of training, poor packaging, lack of proper storage facilities and marketing are some of the postharvest challenges in mangoes.