Small-Scale Postharvest Practices for Strengthening Sustainability in Handling Horticulture Crops
摘要
Sufficing the rising food demand with an exponentially increasing global population would be the greatest world challenge of the future. Environmental deterioration and climate change are making it more difficult for the globe to feed a rising population with enough nutritious food. Moreover, postharvest food loss and waste would rank third in the world’s emissions if it were a separate nation. The yearly greenhouse gas emissions from food loss and waste are equivalent to those from road transport, and they are more than four times higher than those from aircraft. Over the last several years, postharvest loss reduction has gained significant attention and is being cited more frequently as a sustainable way to lower carbon emissions and the world’s hunger and malnutrition. Over the previous two decades, numerous research projects have identified various sources of losses and created a variety of solutions to cut losses. In this chapter, the simple cost-effective practices with no/low energy requirements and environmentally sustainable methods suitable for small-scale farmers to reduce postharvest losses are discussed.