The Executive Director of
the Nigeria Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Prof. Femi Peters, has says Private Public Partnership (PPP) is inevitable in handling post-harvest techniques in the country.
In a release obtained by our correspondent from the Port Harcourt zonal office of NSPRI, Peters averred that agricultural productivity was incomplete without post harvest technologies and facilities.
Describing post-harvest as a “core business”, he said the idea of post-harvest activities was not restricted to storage alone.
He said the usual activity starts from when the crop was harvested adding that it entails the post harvest value chain were the crops have to be dried as that was one of the most important aspects of storage.
According to him, produce should be given the right quantity in terms of moisture content to avoid deterioration after harvest.
The NSPRI boss explained further that it was not just the storage but also the way and method through which harvesting was done that matters.
While explaining the advantages of using machineries in harvesting he said losses were bound to increase where harvests were done by hand.
He explained that it was not proper to store produce at the state of their water content as that could lead to deterioration and spoilage.
“After harvesting you dry first so as to reduce the water level so that moulds, fungi and other such pests will not have a conducive environment to grow” he said.
On how to maintain the integrity of crops against pests rodents, deterioration and spoils, he said it was such development that has made the post harvest activity a most important aspect of food security any where in the world an Nigeria in particular.