The Post-Harvest Management Group is responsible for the improvement of the efficiency of the Post-harvest sector which covers loss prevention and integrated value-added technologies together with the related financial and administrative support systems. The range of activities normally involves a wide span of on-farm and off-farm operations for plant and animal products including post-harvest technology, transport, storage, packaging, distribution, research, and basic management skills.

More specifically, the following tasks are undertaken:

• Provision of technical advice to Member Countries and international and national institutions of post-production matters, in particular on the reduction of post-harvest losses; improvement of post harvest operations; design, construction, operation and management of structures for handling and storage of agricultural products, including in-plant quality control, preservation technologies, packaging, refrigeration and distribution of these products;

• Collection, consolidation and dissemination of information on post-production, and the establishment of an information database: the Information Network on Post-harves Operation (INPhO); production and distribution of CD-ROMs on INPhO for users in the rural areas where access to the internet is limited;

• Accomplishment of studies, jointly with other technical units, on the technical and economical potential for the development, efficient utilisation and management of modern or improved post-production technologies and assisted in the formulation of policies and strategies to enable FAO Members to exploit that potential;

• Formulation and implementation of technical cooperation projects for technology tranfer and training on improved post harvest technologies and constraints analysis of post harvest sector in several developing countries.