1. Country Report Postharvest Practices in fruit/vegetable in China By Chinese Participants

2. 1. Profile of Yunnan

3. YUNNAN From 21 to 29 degrees north latitude and from 97 to 106 degrees east longitude About 383 thousand square kilometers. The population is more than 42,000,000 in Yunnan Located in Southwest China CHINA

4. In Yunnan, there is a plentiful diversity for geographical conditions, climates ……

5. A plentiful biological diversification in Yunnan and rich in plant,animal,crop resources Plant Resources in ChinaAnimal Resources in ChinaCrop Resources in China Yunnan 62.5% Other 37.5% Yunnan 55% Other 45% Yunnan 80% Other 20%

6. A plentiful diversification for minority and human culture Performance of various and interesting local cultural programs by 26 minorities

7. 2. Overview of the fruit/vegetable industry in China

8.  Fruits and vegetables are essential components of the human diet as they contain a number of nutritional important compounds such as vitamins, which cannot be synthesized by the human body.

9.  Fruits and vegetables industry in China has developed rapidly in resent years. Up to now, China’s total output of fruits and vegetables take the first rank in the world with 59.2 million tons of vegetables and 11.34 million tons of fruits respectively.

10. Vegetables production in recent years Area( million hectare )Yield( ton ) NATIONYUNNANNATIONYUNNAN 200217.350.405.29*10 8 7.99*10 6 200317.950.445.40*10 8 8.39*10 6 200417.560.465.51*10 8 8.85*10 6 200517.720.495.65*10 8 9.71*10 6 200618.220.525.83*10 8 10.33*10 6 200718.480.565.65*10 8 11.13*10 6 200817.880.585.92*10 8 11.67 *10 6

11. Area (million hectare )Yield( ton ) NATIONYUNNANNATIONYUNNAN 20029.100.216.95*10 7 8.56*10 5 20039.440.227.55*10 7 9.65*10 5 20049.770.238.39*10 7 11.55*10 5 200510.030.228.84*10 7 13.66*10 5 200610.040.249.60*10 7 16.26*10 5 200710.470.2710.52*10 7 20.24*10 5 200810.730.2911.34*10 7 26.62*10 5 Fruit production in recent years

12.  The raise of yields meet the increasingly demand of fruits and vegetables supply by consumers. At the same time, as fruits and vegetables are characterized by their seasonal, regional and perishable properties, the industry is facing problems involving quality, safety and marketing.

13.  postharvest loss resulting from spoilage, senescence or other damages is up to 20-25% of the total output  equivalent to above 100,000 million RMB.

14. 3. Problems and challenges of fruit/vegetable industry in China

15.  Although China’s fruit and vegetable industry has a great development, there exist a number of problems and challenges associated with the postharvest life, quality and safety of crops. They are as follows:

16. 3.1 Pesticides and harvesting  Recommended periods between final spraying and harvest are sometime not followed. Farmers are ignorant the requirement because they want to take advantage of high prices.

17. Improper harvest stage  Too early or too late harvesting  Some farmers use growth chemicals to delay the time of harvest, until the prices rise.

18. Harvesting techniques and equipment  Poor harvesting techniques  Dirty clippers, knives, harvest bags and field crates  Leading to contamination, skin breakages, crushing and bruising, thus promoting physiological damage and disease attacking.

19. 3.2 Preparations of fruits and vegetables before sale  Preparatory activities can include a number of operations. Only large-scale growers sort produce by size and maturity at their packing sheds. Roots and tubers and other crops are frequently washed prior to sale.

20.  Other vegetables,particularly leafy vegetables, are often watered by farmers to make look fresher. The quality of water used for such washing is questionable and farmers have little knowledge about water-borne contamination.

21.  Farm workers can be a source of biological and physical contamination during the handling of fresh produce. Dirty hands, sneezing, coughing, spitting, failure to wash hands after visiting the toilet, handling animals, smoking and handling waste food and rubbish can contaminate produce.

22.  Produce waiting to be purchased or picked up by traders is usually held at ambient temperature at the side of the road. Animals may freely near the fresh produce and there is not any protection from dust or other contaminants.

23. 3.3 Packaging  Use low quality and dirty packaging materials lead to produce being squashed and bruised.  Even where good-quality packaging materials are used there is a tendency to overfill the containers, so leading to produce damage. This particularly occurs when transport is charged on a “per piece” basis.

24. 3.4 Transport  Transport vehicles are normally used for multiple purposes. Even where trucks are used primarily for fruits and vegetables, failure to clean them properly can result in contamination by rotting fruit left in the vehicle.

25.  Damages caused by attempts to maximize loads by squeezing as many containers as possible into a vehicle.  Bad roads, transport in the heat of the day, and limited air circulation in vehicle.  The bottom layers of containers in a truck collapse during a long journey.

26.  Combining product with differing transport requirement in the same vehicle  Ethylene-producing fruit are sometimes mixed with ethylene –sensitive produce.

27. 3.5 Storage practices  Among horticultural products, some are suitable for long-term storage, some are not. Ripe, ethylene-releasing fruit needs to be separated from unripe fruit prior to storage, but this is not always done.

28.  Different products should be kept in different stores, but limited storage space means that this is also not always done.  Improper storage conditions due to lack of knowledge or available facilities.

29. 3.6 Ripening and produce preparation  These are carried out by traders including promoting ripening, grading, sorting, washing, waxing, treating against fungal infection and pests, and watering to preserve freshness.

30.  The problem is that not all these operations are carried out properly or following recommendations. Examples include using dirty water to wash or water, relative high dose of fungicide being used, ripening of immature produce

31. 3.7 Wholesale and retail marketing  Waste disposal problem  Produce is exposed to direct sunlight and rain due to lack of shelters in the markets.  Sorting and trimming for leafy vegetables and removing spoiled fruits are often done on ground, in the sunlight and often on bare earth.

32. 3.7 Research and facilities improvement  Research is not enough.  facilities for postharvest practices do not meet the needs.

33. 4. Recommendations to improve postharvest practices in fruit/vegetable of China

34. 4.1 Training and education  knowledge and techniques of postharvest practices.  Awareness of postharvest practices, sanitation and hygiene, produce quality keeping and safety

35. 4.2 Storage facilities and marketing infrastructure improvement  Storage capacity of horticultural products in China is behind the development of production. At present the total storage space of fresh produce is about 25 million tons, which is far less than the total output of fresh produce. This is one of the important reasons that postharvest loss is around 20% per year in china.

36.  In addition to government investment, private sector investment should be encouraged. According to China’s situation, construction of storage house in production area has been proved to be a good way to increase the storage capacity.

37. 4.3 Government’s role Government play an important role in postharvest practices. Activities including the recommendations or standards setting, organization of training and education, market regulation, information providing and investment should be direct or indirect carried out by government.

38. 4.4 Research More scientific research associated with postharvest practices should be encouraged, including postharvest handlings for quality keeping and improvement, safe treatment for microbial control, postharvest physiological changes of various types of fresh produce, mechanism of spoilage, establishment of effective market system and so on.

39. Wholesale market

42. Preharvest bagging and spray of chmicals

43. Separating by sponge after harvest

45. shipment

46. 图 14 吊挂防机械伤

47. Postharvest treatment

48. Transfer from truck to temperature control vehicle

49. Wholesale market for banana

50. Cllecting products

52. Cool House

56. Handling pomegranate on the ground

58. Handling of persimmon

60. Thank You For Your Attention