Final Technical and Project Completion Reports / Banana Post harvest Technologies: Philippines

Date

1995

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Abstract

This project entitled Banana Postharvest Technologies (Philippines) was undertaken to provide information and technologies leading to the enhancement of small banana farmers' income and productivity, and improve the supply of good quality and reasonably priced Saba bananas for the fresh market and processing into chips. Although the studies were limited to Saba initially, the results of the survey indicated the need to look at other cultivars normally shipped in mixed loads with Saba. Moreover, a typhoon devastated Saba crops in Northern Mindanao, while other areas were severely affected by a disease, both of which resulted in an extremely low supply of Saba in the course of project implementation. The systems for all cultivars destined for the domestic market are identical, whether or not Saba constitutes all or part of the load. Surveys, field visits and fora revealed a number of technical and extra-technical problems which render the marketing of Saba and other traditional banana cultivars a high risk enterprise. The risks involved have led to manipulative trading practices which ultimately lead to low producer incomes. The survey highlighted the fact that losses can be primarily attributed to inappropriate postharvest systems, although some farmers' practices and the lack of pre-harvest care also contribute to the problem. Laboratory and commercial shipment trials demonstrated that losses can be reduced with the provision of ethylene adsorbents, with the benefit in terms of reduction of premature ripening and the green-soft disorder (GSD) most pronounced during the hot summer months and in shipments experiencing delays. A series of experiments verified the hypothesis that GSD arises from a combination of ethylene with critically low levels of oxygen, which is consistent with observations from commercial shipments. As an offshoot of the observations from these studies the shipment of mature 'Lakatan' fruits during the hot summer months is now possible as long as adsorbents are used. One trader uses the same adsorbents tested in the trials for shipments. Banana shippers have expressed interest in the use of inexpensive ethylene adsorbents. As another off-shoot of this project, efforts are now underway to have a Mindanaobased cooperative manufacture the adsorbents for use by by banana shippers from this area to Manila. Both laboratory and shipment trials also demonstrated the detrimental effects of compression ar1s1ng from the practice of bulk shipments. Shipment trials involving this aspect required the use of vertical dividers to delineate control fruits (bulk-loaded to nearly the full van height) and racked fruits (bulk height reduced by half with provision of a horizontal rack). Cooperators from both shippers in Mindanao and consignees in Manila found the construction of stable horizontal racks too expensive, but judged the provision of vertical dividers a good means of dissipating heat from bulk loads in non-ventilated dry containers. Consequently, most shipments from Nasipit, the port shipping the largest volume of bananas to Manila, are now provided with vertical dividers. Although the use of wooden boxes gives rise to better quality fruits and reduced losses, shippers are still not willing to use these due to the added cost of the boxes and the increased shipping cost (a smaller volume can be loaded in vans). The project highlighted the key role of dialogs between potential users of technology and researchers. For example, a forum involving shipowners and operators conducted early in the project as well as a shipper of quality bananas led to the fabrication of ventilated vans now extensively utilized in the shipment of bananas from the port of Davao to Metro Manila.

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Keywords

BANANAS, SABA, PHILIPPINES, POSTHARVEST LOSSES, ADSORBENTS, SHIPPING, STORAGE DECAY, GREEN-SOFT DISORDER, ETHYLENE PRODUCTION, POSTHARVEST TREATMENT, CRATES, STORAGE EQUIPMENT, HANDLING, STATISTICAL DATA, QUESTIONNAIRES

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