Scaling postharvest solutions:
Empowering trainers to reduce losses and strengthen vegetable value chains

– 25 February 2026 –

In Lao PDR, vegetables like tomatoes, cabbage, chilies, and spring onions often lose value on the journey from farm to market due to poor handling, heat, delays and lack of refrigeration.

To address this, WorldVeg led a two-day Training of Trainers session for agricultural extension professionals representing key project partner organizations from the Vientiane Capital, Champasak, and Sekong provinces.

The training was part of the Variety Development and Climate-Resilient Vegetable Production project, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project aims to develop and promote climate-resilient vegetable production systems in Lao PDR by integrating sustainable production practices with innovative postharvest technologies. It aligns with the Climate-Friendly Agribusiness Value Chains Sector project under the Lao PDR’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The training aimed to strengthen technical capacity in postharvest quality management, food safety, and loss-reduction practices through context-specific, practice-oriented learning. By equipping master trainers with applied skills, the program supports scalable, evidence-based postharvest interventions that can be cascaded to farmers, aggregators/collectors, wholesalers, retailers and others in the vegetable value chain.

Core topics included harvest maturity and handling, sorting, grading, packaging, and hygiene, low-cost cooling and storage technologies, transport-related risks, critical loss points in supply chains, and the economic implications of postharvest losses. Using Lao PDR case studies, participants applied loss-quantification tools, critically analysed prevailing handling practices, mapped supply chain risk points, and linked improved quality management to enhanced income generation and market access.

Learning was reinforced through intensive field and packhouse-based practical exercises. Participants practiced techniques to minimize mechanical injury and heat stress, two major causes of postharvest deterioration, by improving harvesting methods, introducing shade to reduce heat in the field, and conducting systematic field sorting.

At the packhouse in Champasak Province, participants gained hands-on experience with tomatoes, chilis, cabbages and spring onions. This involved produce inspection, hygienic workflow design, pre-cooling, washing and sanitizing operations, market-oriented grading and packaging, first-in, first out (FIFO) storage practice, and traceability record-keeping. Post-training evaluations demonstrated significant improvements in technical confidence and applied skills.

The newly trained master trainers are now well-positioned to cascade these best practices to others in the vegetable value chain, helping to reduce losses, improve food safety, and increase incomes across participating provinces.

This work contributes to the WorldVeg Action Area on Food Safety and Loss Reduction, under the organization’s new Global Strategy 2026-2033.