Improving postharvest management improves the quality and safety of produce available to consumers and farmer incomes.

Vegetables are nutritious food crops and valuable commodities, and postharvest management has a big impact on their quality and the income received for them. Harvested vegetables are still living; they respire and age and can spoil easily without appropriate postharvest treatments. Postharvest losses of 9-25% of production are common. These costs are borne by farmers as reduced farm gate prices and by consumers as increased purchase prices.

Suggested reading:

• Postharvest Technology for Fresh Chili Pepper in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

• Postharvest loss in the supply chain for vegetables: the case of chili and tomato in Viet Nam

• Postharvest loss in the supply chain for vegetables: the case of tomato, yardlong bean, cucumber, and Chinese kale in Cambodia

• Postharvest loss in the supply chain for vegetables: the case of tomato yardlong bean, cucumber, and chili in Lao PDR