Postharvest handling of vegetables in the royal project foundation
D. Boonyakiat
ISHS Acta Horticulturae 604:625-630.
2003
บทคัดย่อ
Postharvest handling of vegetables in the royal project foundation
Some temperate vegetables are being grown in the highland of Northern Thailand. The Royal Project handles a wide variety of temperate vegetables and has shown that it is possible to grow temperate vegetables in tropical country. This project is a charitable organization that was established in 1969 by the King of Thailand to develop a permanent and productive system of agriculture in the mountainous areas of Northern Thailand. Postharvest handling of these vegetables includes the farmers harvest their own crops by hand either the evening before or early in the morning. At Development Centre vegetables are graded and packed in plastic baskets lined with white paper. The Royal Project extension worker shall buy the vegetables outright at a promised price. These vegetables are analyzed for the chemical residues before leaving the Centre. The Development Centre staffs then check for both quality and quantity of the vegetables. These vegetables are loaded on to the trucks. The trucks arrive at packing house from 7 a.m. onwards. These produces are checked again for both quality and quantity. They are randomly checked for the chemical residues as well. A certain amount of final regrading and trimming takes places at the packing house. Most of the produces are packed into consumer package and distributed in Chiang Mai. The vegetables for Chiang Mai are distributed in late afternoon to customers. For Bangkok, the refrigerated trucks are loaded before setting off for their overnight trip to Bangkok in the morning. The produce again are checked for the quality and then distributed to the customer such as hotel, supermarket, wholesale and retail outlet including 8 Royal Project shops in Chiang Mai and Bangkok. However postharvest losses have sometimes been high in this vegetable postharvest handling system. Methods to reduce losses and increase profitability will be discussed. These include improved handling techniques such as precooling of vegetables and training of farmers and extension workers in appropriate postharvest techniques.