Postharvest Management Of Tomatoes In Pakistan | Agriproduction marketing

Tomato (Lycopersican esculentum) belongs to solanaceae family. It is native to Mexico and was called tomati. Being a popular vegetable universally, tomato is a frost susceptible crop and loves warm season to grow. The crop grows under a wide range of environmental conditions but needs plenty of sunshine, comparatively cool nights with 15 -20  temperature. It requires warm days with temperature range of 25  30  for optimum production. Tomatoes do not set fruits when average night and day temperature exceeds 25 - 35  respectively. This crop is grown from sea level to snow line as one of the leading and popular vegetables in Pakistan. In 2010-11, tomato crop was planted on 52300 hectares land, which gave 529600 tons production (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 210-11).  It is eaten in fresh, cooked and processed form in the world. In Pakistan, it is cooked with almost every dish in the kitchen and eaten fresh as salad.

In Pakistan, postharvest losses in vegetables are 20-30 % and in tomatoes, even higher due to improper stage of picking, disease infestation, insect attack, rough handling of fruits, least or improper grading and packing. Consequently, farmers bear huge economic losses due to these problems. Being perishable, cold storage extends vegetables life by slowing down physiological process, which is continued after harvesting also. But in the vicinities of tomato or vegetables growing areas, cold storages have not been established. Therefore, it becomes imperative to adopt low cost on-farm techniques to reduce tomato postharvest losses. Post-harvest handling of tomato is very critical to avoid losses. To minimize theses losses, tomatoes must be harvested at a proper stage of maturity. Over-ripe tomatoes are more susceptible to physical injuries than  the ripe ones during handling specially, when transported to distant markets. Being soft textured, tomatoes should be handled carefully and gently to minimize bruising and cracking.  There are four stages of tomato harvesting; green, pink, ripe and fully ripe. However, selection of harvesting stage depends upon the purpose that whether it is stored or shifted to local or distant markets. Tomatoes should be harvested in early morning or late afternoon when temperature is generally low. Keeping harvested tomatoes under shade will also prolong storage life. However, harvested tomatoes should never be exposed to direct sun light for longer time. Generally, tomatoes are not graded well and only rotten and small size fruits are removed before packing, which are packed in small and medium size wooden crates of 6 -10 kgs capacity to avoid cracking due to compaction and bruising.  Tomatoes are also packed in plastic bags having the capacity of 5-6 kgs.

 

Before packing, the fruit stalks should totally be removed to avoid puncturing. It is main source of postharvest losses in tomato. Putting soft packing material like grasses in the crates can also reduce damage to fruits during transportation to distant markets. Looking to the damage of produce and its economic consequences, many R&D organizations in Pakistan are making efforts strategically to reduce the postharvest losses in this crop. In the first instance, tomato varieties are imported form various research organizations for testing in different  regions across the country for yield, diseases resistance, longer shelf life and other postharvest traits.

Pakistan has great potential for vegetable production. But this potential has not been exploited due to non-availability of quality vegetable seed at reasonably affordable prices. For exploiting this potential, R&D organizations in Pakistan have embarked on a large scale vegetable seed production of five vegetables (including tomato) with the objectives to; increase national vegetable seed production, evaluate value chains for major vegetable crops and promote improved postharvest-value-adding technologies. Capacity building is the important segment of R&D activities.  For this purpose, trainings are  imparted to farmers and representatives from the public and private sectors in the entire country to train them on value chain e.g. varietal choice, crop management, harvesting, grading, packing and marketing of fresh tomatoes and seed. Trainings are also imparted on tomato solar drying, making powders and other bi-products as value addition the farmers. Steps for making and introducing suitable packing material have also been taken.