Harvesting methods-Manual methods

Harvesting-Manual method
    HARVESTING METHOD
    I. Hand harvesting
    It predominates for the fresh market and extended harvest period (due to climate, there is accelerated ripening and a need to harvest the crop quickly) particularly the produce which is more susceptible to physical injury and soft fruit like grapes/litchis/jamum and strawberry and others berries which are borne on low growing plants.

    Benefits of hand harvesting
    • Hand harvesting is less expensive
    • Less damage and harvest rate (times) can be increased,
    The main benefit of hand harvesting over mechanized harvesting is that humans are able to select the produce at its correct stage of ripening and handle it carefully. The result is a higher quality product with minimum damage. Examples,
    • Breaking off – twisting off pineapple, papaya, tomato
    • Cutting – snipping off mandarins and table grapes with secateurs and apple, roses etc
    Harvesting methods is also use full reducing incidence of fungal infection in papaya/grapefruit.-When fruit are cut from the tree using clipper shows less infection then the harvesting by twisting and pulling (Fig.).
    But harvesting small fruits and from thorny plants are major obstacle(disadvantage).

    Tools and containers for harvesting
    Tools - Depending on the type of fruit or vegetable, several devices are employed to harvest produce. Commonly used tools for fruit and vegetable harvesting are secateurs or knives, and hand held or pole mounted picking shears.
    When fruits or vegetables are difficult to catch, such as mangoes or avocados, a cushioning material is placed around the tree to prevent damage to the fruit when dropping from high trees.
    Containers - Harvesting containers must be easy to handle for workers for picking/cutting produce in the field. Many crops are harvested into bags.
    Harvesting bags with shoulder or waist slings (as they are easy to carry and leave both hands free) can be used for fruits with firm skins, like mango, citrus, avocados etc. The contents of the bag are emptied through the bottom into a field container without tipping the bag.
    These containers are made from a variety of materials such as paper, polyethylene film, sisal, hessian or woven polyethylene and are relatively cheap but give little protection to the crop against handling and transport damage. Sacks are commonly used for crops such as potatoes, onions, cassava, and pumpkins.
    Plastic buckets - are suitable containers for harvesting fruits that are easily crushed, such as tomato. These containers should be smooth without any sharp edges that could damage the produce.
    Use of bulk bins(commercial growers) - with a capacity of 250-500 kg, in which crops such as apples and cabbages are placed, and sent to large-scale packinghouses for selection, grading and packing.
    Other types of field harvest containers include baskets, carts, and plastic crate.
    For high risk products, woven baskets and sacks are not recommended because of the risk of contamination. Eg. Strawberry

Last modified: Tuesday, 26 June 2012, 4:50 PM