IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2021) 12-2

Research articleerd

A Case Study on Postharvest Handling Practices of MangoFruits in Selected Areas of Myanmar
THAN THAN SOE*
Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
Email: thansoesoe@gmail.com

NYEIN NYEIN HTWE
Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

MAY THU HLAING
Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
Received 2 February 2020

Accepted 29 October 2021(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most popular fruits in tropical countries.
The postharvest losses of mango fruits in developing countries are still high and facing theeconomic loss. Myanmar mango is harvested only once a year, there is often an oversupply
which leads to low prices and product losses at harvest time. This study was conducted toinvestigate the existing handling practices and to identify the losses concerned with the major
problems facing the handling of mango in selected areas during mango season of May 2017.
A total of 120 respondents from mango growers of Mandalay and Sagaing regions wererandomly selected and interviewed using structured questionnaires. The total loss of 32%52% of mango fruits were observed during postharvest handling and transportation due topoor transportation infrastructure and bad road conditions in production sites. The temporarytransportation was used trailer which is driven by motorbike for local market and ten-wheeled
truck without cooling system was used for export market. The loss in harvesting stage was
10-20% responded by the growers due to the harvesting tool and which was picking the fruitwith a long bamboo-hook or ladder to reach the high plant. Thus, postharvest losses of mango
fruit were the highest percent in study areas. Currently, mango growers were directly sent tolocal wholesale and China border markets by non-refrigerated truck. No collective bargaining
takes place on the price and each farmer interacts individually with the brokers or buyers byreceiving market price. The 79% of mango growers were commonly practiced for temporary
bulk package of bamboo basket followed by the use of plastic crate of 15% from the farmsite to destined markets All growers mostly and currently used the packaging style ofindividual fruit wrapping by paper in plastic crate for export market. One of the major
constraints is the scarcity of labor in mango season by the results of 73% responded by themango growers. Regarding the perception of growers, more than 50% of respondents haveknowledge and experiences on postharvest handling managements, however, trainings on
systematic handling practices among the stakeholders were still needed to reduce the losses.
Keywords handling practices, harvesting, packaging, transportation, mango supply chain

INTRODUCTION
Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an important tropical fruit around the world and it belongs to thefamily Anacardiaceae. The origin of mango is Indo-Burma region and it is one of the most important
exportable fruits in Myanmar. Myanmar is the sixth largest country in mango production in Asia.
The mango production areas in Myanmar are over 104,000 hectares with the average yield of 6.83
MT/ha (MOALI, 2018). More than one hundred varieties of mango are cultivated throughout
Myanmar. Major mango production areas in Myanmar are Mandalay Region, Sagaing Region andSouthern Shan State. Twenty kinds of mango species and more than 300 varieties are cultivatedthroughout Myanmar (VFRDC, 2003). Among these varieties, the exportable cultivars are Sein TaⒸ ISERD189

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Lone, Mya Kyauk and Shwe Hin Thar. Out of them, Sein Ta Lone is very popular in both domestic
consumption and export markets of China, Taiwan, Russia and Singapore. Mango is one of the mostperishable fruits and have a short postharvest life of 4-8 days at room temperature (Carrillo et al.,2000). It is facing high postharvest losses in Myanmar and it is estimated in the range of 25-40%
from harvest to consumption stage (FAO, 2011). In order to increase food security, it is not enoughto increase the productivity in agriculture but there is also a great need to reduce the losses (Parfitt etal., 2010). The mango postharvest handling practices include series of operations such as harvesting,precooling, cleaning, selection, grading, washing, ventilation, grading, bagging, packaging anddistant transportation before they reach the market (Kader, 2005). Awareness and adoption of
postharvest handling technology of mango fruits by growers, producers and traders along the supply
chain are still weak in Myanmar. There is paucity of information on postharvest handling practices
and losses of mango concerned with the problems in commercial mango production. Therefore, thisstudy was carried out to investigate the existing handling practices and postharvest losses byidentifying the major problems facing by the mango growers.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGYThis study was conducted in major mango producing areas of Mandalay and Sagaing Regions in thecentral part of Myanmar. A total of 120 respondents from mango orchards in 6 villages of theseregions were randomly selected and interviewed using structural questionnaires. The survey wasconducted in May 2017 using random sampling procedure. The questionnaires were composed of
total 40 questions concerned with cultivation practices and postharvest handling practices of mango
fruit and demographic facts of gender, age, education level, employment, land holding size andincome. The problems encountering during harvesting, postharvest handling and growers’ perception,suggestions were also collected in this study. The collected data were transferred and analyzed byusing Statistical Package of the Social Science (SPSS) version 23.0 software.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Assessment on Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents
Socioeconomics factors of mango growers include age, educational status and land holding size. It
reveals that the farm size of mango growers ranged from one to 14 hectares and about 40 % of mango
growers possessed 1-2 hectares, another 40 % possessed 3-4 hectares. The growers who possessedmore than 10 hectares were recorded as 10% in study areas (Fig.1). The most cultivated anddemandable mango varieties were Sein Ta Lone and Shwe Hinn Thar observing about 50% followed
by 24% of these two varieties and Yin Kwe mango (Fig. 2). It can be assumed that Sein Ta Lone andShwe Hin Thar mangoes are the most market demand by the consumers and other cultivars of Matheand Nga Mout were growing together with Sein Ta Lone and Shwe Hinn Thar mangoes. According
to survey, the age of mango respondents with the range of both 31-40 year and 41-50 years belonged
to 36% respectively whereas the rest of 28% were older than 50 years showing 18% and 10%
belonged to age group of 20-30 years in both study areas. The majority of household heads werewithin the middle age and mainly males whereas the females were served as household workers inthe orchard. It is evident that the educational status of respondents ranged from primary to graduatelevel. Most growers were graduate level of 29% followed by the 27% of high school level. The restof 27% and 19% were secondary level and primary education level, respectively.
Handling practices of mango fruits include the stages of precooling, cleaning, sorting, grading,packaging and transportation from farm site to consumers. Individual fruit wrapping was commonly
practiced for local and distant markets. The bulk packaging items for mango fruits were bamboobasket, plastic crate and wooden box. Among them, about 80% of bamboo basket was used for local
market followed by the 14% for plastic crate for export market. The rest of 4% was wooden box and
2% was carton box used in locally (Table 1). It can be assumed that bamboo basket is easily available
with low cost in Myanmar. It was agreed with the report of FAO (2011) and that packaging generallyⒸ ISERD

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provides protection for the product to reduce losses and to maintain fruit quality with theenhancement of product value.

Fig. 1 Distribution of mango farm size in study areas

Fig. 2 Distribution percent of different mango varieties among the respondents
handling practices of mango in study area
Table 1 Access to handling practices by packaging materials by mango growers
Item
Bulk packaging type
1.Wooden crate
2.Plastic crate
3.Bamboo basket
4. Carton box
Total
Individual packaging item1.Paper
2.Net sac
TotalRespondents (%)
4.00 (n =100)
14,25 (n =95)
79 .75 (n=110)
2.00 ( n= 80 )100
100 (n =110)
0100

Losses of Mango during Handling Practices in Study Area
The survey was conducted to examine the main reasons of mango losses during the pre-harvest,harvest and postharvest periods. There was no respondent for pre-harvest loss. However, postharvest
loss of mango during handling and transportation was higher than those of the harvest loss. About
65% of postharvest loss was recorded during handling practices and transportation followed by theharvest time loss of 32% was due to higher plants by the use of long bamboo pole and ladder. The
other losses of 1-2% were identified as wind condition, pest and disease infestation. Thus, total lossesof 32-52% were observed due to improper handling practices, transportation system and harvesting
practices (table-2). Most respondents reported that the mango fruits were mostly and temporarilytransported by 86% of trailers which was driven by motorbike from farm to local market.

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Table 2 Losses of mango fruits by the sample respondents in study areas
ItemPreharvest
Harvest time

Losses (%)
010-20

Respondents (%)

Postharvest
Others
Total

21-30
1- 2
32- 5265 (n=100)
3 (n=72)100

32 (n=100)

Reasons
Falling the small fruits due to wind
Due to harvesting toola) using a long stick or scissors to cut thefruit from the treeb) climbing the tree or using a ladder toreach high plant
During handling practices and transportation
Pest, disease infestation and climatic condition

The bad nature of road networks at the farm site and unfavorable factors during transportation
resulted in great postharvest losses. The following (Figs. 3 and 4) show knowledge background on
handling practices and growers perception on training requirement. More than 50% of respondents
had their own sets of criteria for postharvest handling managements and knowledge. However, halfof growers and labors had no knowledge concerned it and they still used traditional harvesting
method and handling practices that means mango directly piled on the ground with no paper, sheet
or straw with stack and also harvested mangoes with stalk which caused dropping the latex that
resulted in negative effects on fruit quality and increase in postharvest losses. Thus, about 80% of
respondents answered to give trainings on postharvest handling managements for labors and growers.
Therefore, educational training on postharvest managements such as biological pest control,advanced harvesting technique, systematic handling and packaging practices would greatly help in
reducing the postharvest losses of mango fruit.

Fig. 3 Postharvest knowledge by the mango growers in study areas

Fig. 4 Farmers' perceptions on postharvest training in study areasⒸ ISERD

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CONCLUSION
Almost 100% of the respondents were commonly practiced by paper packaging to individual fruit
for distant transportation along the sale process. Therefore, handling and packaging practices should
be systematically managed to reduce postharvest losses and to maintain the quality of the products.
It is suggested that the use of enough labors (pickers and packers) and they should be trained toreduce losses at harvest time and postharvest losses. It is needed to change the attitudes of growers
to adopt innovation in farming cultivation practices and community among the growers. Moreover,to be modernized orchard and easy to manage for harvest, changing the attitude of the growers is oneof the constraints and transportation as a result of undulations on roads are one of the major causesof postharvest losses. Furthermore, farmers do not have good storage facilities at the farm level, andthis forces them to sell their fruits immediately after harvest. And also, no collective bargaining takes
place on the price of mango. According to the study, some respondents in study areas were practicing
on sizing and grading of mango fruit for export market by the use of machinery and this may be
regarded as quality criteria. Although growers have the knowledge and awareness on postharvest
handling practices and managements for mango export market, they have not tried to carry out
practically and systematically these practices. Therefore, trainings and awareness program on
postharvest technologies in fruit production is needed to train the mango growers and stakeholders
for the advancement of postharvest handling practices. Moreover, cooperation with public andprivate partnership should support them to take these actions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was financially supported by Technical Cooperation Program of Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA-TCP) at Yezin Agricultural University, Myanmar.
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