The Role of the Ministry of
Agriculture
• To ensure that food security in the country is
attained through increased production and
productivity.
• This has necessitated the establishment of
the National Food Security Department in year
2000.
National Food Security
Department
• The Department has the mandate to
formulate policies ,programmes and strategies
to improve food security and to coordinate
food security issues in the country.
Postharvest Management in Tanzania
• In Tanzania the issue of concerned in post
harvest management is high crop postharvest
loses. (the issue of food safety was not very
much emphasized}
• Postharvest losses are still high despite of
various efforts to reduce the losses which
have been undertaken.
• In the post-harvest system, losses occur when
the processes/activities in the system are not
properly done, at harvesting, predrying/drying, pre-processing/processing,
transportation and storage.
• Major factors causing losses include
temperature, moisture, and pests of stored
products, spillages during handling and
transportation
Postharvest Management of Cereal and Groundnuts
• Cereals are widely grown in the country with
major producing areas being the southern
highlands. (maize, rice, sorghum…}
• The postharvest loses for cereals is estimated
to be above 10% with majority of loses
occurring during storage
• Groundnuts are also widely grown in the
country especially the central zone.
• The majority of famers growing the crops are
small holder farmers using rudimentary tools
• Most of the cereals/groundnuts grown are
used for human consumption
• The postharvest management of
cereals/groundnuts involves various steps
from harvesting to the storage.
Steps in Postharvest management system
• Harvesting
Ensure the crop has reached the required
maturity
• Threshing
Remove the cobs and separate the seeds
• Cleaning
Ensure the crop is free from dust and other
dirty
• Sorting
• Grading
• Drying
Dry the crop to the required moisture
content, e.g for maize is 13% and ground nuts
16%
• Application of insecticide before storage
(recommended insecticides]
• Storage in a cool, well ventilated, moisture
free structure/facility. Common facilities used
Vihenge, Bin, Silo, Sacks
• Improved Post-Harvest Management
Technologies are necessary at all levels in
order to minimize crop losses during postharvest processes, and therefore to increase
supply and availability of safe food.
Reduction of postharvest loses
• In developing countries including Tanzania,
losses in processing, storage and handling
tend to be rather high because of poor
facilities, infrastructures and frequently
inadequate knowledge of methods to care for
crops properly.
• Adoption of appropriate Post-harvest
technologies will help the majority of farmers
to reduce crop loses and hence have sufficient
and safe nutritious food.
Efforts to reduce postharvest losses
• Postharvest Management Services Section
under National Food Security Department has
a mandate to provide technical backstopping
on postharvest management to Local
Government Authority staff all over the
country.
Currently the following have been
done:
• Preparation and dissemination of Postharvest
management technologies for various food
crops; cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables,
oilseeds, spices and roots and tubers.
• The technologies include harvesting, drying,
threshing, cleaning, sorting, grading,
packaging, storage and processing.
…….
Preparation and dissemination of various
guidelines on postharvest management which
include;
• Guideline on improved storage structures at
household and community level (Improved
traditional storage structures}
• Guideline on proper crop handling for storage;
proper drying to the required moisture
content
• Training extension workers at the LGA level on
Postharvest management practices
• Training of artisans on construction of
improved storage structures
• Stakeholders meeting on processing and
blending of various crops
Training of Artisans on construction of improved storage
structure
Gaps in Postharvest management of
food crops
• Lack of current data on postharvest losses for
various crops
• Inadequate adoption of postharvest technologies
by farmers
• Inadequate involvement of private sector in
postharvest management
• Less weight given to the safety issues in
postharvest management e.g improper
application of pesticides and aflatoxins in maize
and groundnuts
• Inadequate research in postharvest management
• Inadequate linkage of stakeholders involved in
postharvest management issues. Since post
harvest system is comprised of many processes,
interventions to improve it will have to be done
through net working and collaborating with other
institutions and professionals at different levels.
What need to be done?
• To identify constraints and problems in the
existing post harvest systems, particularly those
common to our crop commodities in the country
and guide improvements.*include aflatoxins
• To identify institutions where post-harvest
programs can be carried out and establish
collaborations/partnerships.
• To identify the stakeholders in the post-harvest
system and establish partnerships in fighting food
loss and safety.
• To ensure participation of the private sector in
the development of the post-harvest
improvement strategies and dissemination of
the technologies.
• To improve and adapt post-harvest techniques
and technologies and train the end users in
application, through training of trainers
Conclusion
• As we have seen the link between Agriculture
and aflatoxins, crop postharvest management
contributes much on controlling the risks of
aflatoxins
• PHM also helps to reduce crop losses and
hence ensures increase availability of safe
food
Thank you for listening