ABSTRACT
Harvesting and handling are the equally important activities as the entire production system as an individual activity. Therefore, proper harvesting and handling is essential to assure the farm income. There are various factors which directly affect the storage life of fruits and vegetables as below. The natural limits to the post-harvest life of all types of fresh produce are severely affected by other biological and environmental conditions. The quality and conditions of produce sent to market and their consequent selling price are directly affected by the care taken during harvesting and field handling. Hand-harvesting is usually preferred when fruits, such as peaches, and other produce, such as green vegetables, are at different stages of maturity and there is need on repeated visits to harvest the crop over a period of time. The principal benefit of packaging is to provide protection against physical damages through inadequacies in handling and transport of a fresh produce.
