ABSTRACT
Food security initiatives in the Caribbean have previously focused on increasing food production through the development of high yielding cultivars and agronomic testing. Although such studies provided information on the impact of new varieties and practices on yield, they did not provide adequate information on how the commodity performed under realistic commercial handling regimes. Consequently, most of the harvesting and handling damages that adversely affected retail quality and losses, estimated as high as 35%–45% in the Caribbean, occurred before the commodities were displayed for sale. Accordingly, a priority for action to reduce food losses and waste is warranted and this depends on the development, adaption and communication of innovative technologies for improvement of current harvesting, postharvest handling, storage and distribution logistics, particularly for small–scale farmers and traders at the rural level. The importance of establishing and maintaining a close linkage between research, extension, training and capacity building in seeking this goal cannot be over emphasized.
Involvement of producers and traders in determining research and extension priorities and identifying avenues in which information is unavailable has been restricted or even non-existent. The lack of postharvest technology extension to all segments of the postharvest system, severely constrains efforts to establish research/extension linkages and capacity building programs. Inadequate knowledge and skill of the extension officers themselves combine to provide major obstacles in the flow of information among the diverse actors and components of the system. This chapter looks at how postharvest research has contributed to the development of numerous innovative techniques aimed at reducing food losses and waste in large-scale farming in many developed countries, while highlighting how this has often been less so in developing countries in the Caribbean. Case studies of individual extension clientele will be provided to identify the gaps encountered along with examples of the efforts to provide information and training to reduce PHL. Finally, recommendations are provided on how to reduce the known gaps in postharvest research, training, extension and capacity building in the CARICOM region.
