To manage the fruits after it has been harvested is yet another challenging aspect in today’s world. The price of the produce highly depends on the appearance of the fruits. So, as to enhance it one has to be keen on its management.
There are various factors which affects the life, appearance and keeping of the fruits post-harvest. However there are few things of which if proper care is taken can give better results and enhance the post-harvest life of a fruit.
Following are the general practices which all can practice, is economical and effective.
Use of foam nets are common practice amongst today’s farming community. The foam nets are one of the medium with which we can enhance its life. Foam nets helps protect the fruit from mechanical bruises not only at the time of harvest but also during transits.
Materials required for packaging
Why is it important for proper packaging of VNR Madhur fruits?
Good packaging not only makes the produces look impressive to trade/consumer and also safeguard the fruits from damages in multiple handling during transit/transportation.
The quality of the fruits also sustains during transits.
How to do the packaging?
- Right quality of CFBs (corrugated fiber boxes) with proper ventilation and handling convenience are required.
- These boxes should be capable of carrying defined load (10-15-20 Kgs), trade and transport friendly medium should be used with appropriate weight and proper cushioning (newspapers) to protect the fruits from mechanical impacts during transportations.
- CFBs should be based on industry standards.
- The strength of the cartons too plays an important role for distant marketing. The cartons should be 5-7 ply depending upon the distance of the destination.
- Usually, 5-6 steps of loading and unloading takes place until it reaches the consumer.
- While packaging we create a proper cushioning at the bottom of the carton and do the same after every layer of fruit.
- It helps to protect the fruits from manual/mechanical impacts of handling in transportation.
Dimension of CFBs (corrugated fiber boxes) of load 15 kg is
Length – 19 Inch, Width – 11 Inch, Height -17 Inch
Cartons need to have packaging details., No. of fruits, Net. Wt., Gross Wt., Date of Packaging, Quality specification/ Grade respectively.
Labeling plays an important role for trade/traders to know about the produce, packaging dates, gross wt., net wt., name and address of the grower/supplier.
A well leveled carton
Fruits can be packed in unit basis with help of foam-net and polythene. Foam-net will help it to avoid from mechanical bruising during transits, loading and unloading and poly-bags will retain the moisture.
Seal the cartons with branded (farm/fruit) BOPP (Bioxially Polypropylene Tapes) and also use plastics strips to seal the package.
