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Lisa Kitinoja

Member since
Organization: The Postharvest Education Foundation
Country: United States of America
Field(s) of expertise:
I am working on:

Postharvest technology education for extension workers and training on small-scale postharvest handling practices for farmers.

This member contributed to:

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Re: 

      b) Are there any particular issues and aspects of importance that you think are not be addressed in the proposed structure?

      c) Are there any disadvantages or gaps you see in the current structure

      I think the outline needs more emphasis on the costs and benefits, since the economics in each nation or region, or food crop/product will determine what is possible in terms of options for reducing and preventing FLW.  It may be necessary for each nation to assess the various options in terms of economic feasibility as a first step. 

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja 

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Postharvest losses and food waste reduction has become a global issue, not only because food loss affects food security and income of smallholder farmers, but also because losses of food are a loss of nutrition for growers and consumers.  Food loss can be due to quality changes and lower nutritional status, for example when the loss of vitamins occurs during handling without any visual appearance changes.  Food loss can be related to food safety issues, for example, due to attack by pests and pathogens that are associated with aflatoxins, anti-nutritive agents or dangerous human pathogens.   Agricultural education curricula should include topics on how to 1) protect foods from damage and deterioration after the harvest, 2) prevent physical loss, loss of quality and nutritional value, and 3) protect foods from contamination and pests during the postharvest period (handling, storage, processing, marketing). 


       

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation (PEF) 

      USA

      www.postharvest.org

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Many innovative agricultural production and marketing projects have been underway in South Asia, with intentions for increasing acess to fruits and vegetable crops and improving nutrition. These include greenhouse production, home gardening, intensive raised bed cultivation, linking farmers to markets, etc. But there is another part of the value chain or commodity system that is less likely to be researched or promoted -- innovative postharvest handling, storage, processing and distribution practices that ensure that the high quality foods grown on farms or in home gardens make it to the table and provide nutritious food for rural and urban communities.

      Since the 1990s there have been several "Postharvest Technology" focused projects in South Asia that can provide some examples of small-scale innovative practices that link ag and food and support improved nutrition. Dr. S K Roy's 100% utilization concept was described in an earlier FSN online discussion (see p.15 in the proceedings).

      Empowering women in the postharvest technology sector can promote improved nutition for them and their families. "Panchayat and Economic empowerment of rural women by hands on Training" by NagaLaxmi M. Raman* and Neeru Dubey .

      http://iasir.net/AIJRHASSpapers/AIJRHASS14-205.pdf

      A reference work that is full of examples of innovative processing practices for South Asia is:

      Postharvest Management of Fruit and Vegetables in the Asia-Pacific Region

      ©APO 2006, ISBN: 92-833-7051-1

      http://www.apo-tokyo.org/00e-books/AG-18_PostHarvest/AG-18_PostHarvest.pdf

      Food losses in South Asia are known to be on the order of 30 to 50%. Investments in time and money that are made to increase food production without paying attention to the postharvest practices that can reduce losses, add value, extend shelf life and protect foods from nutitional loss often will be wasted resources.

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      I would like to comment on the first topic: What are the main issues for policy-makers to consider when linking climate change on the one hand and food security and nutrition on the other, in particular when designing, formulating and implementing policies and programmes?

      During the past few years the global community has been awakening to the serious but long neglected issues of postharvest food losses and waste, and many organizations are now involved in research, education, planning and outreach activities in the field.  Food losses and waste negatively impact both nutrition/food security and the environment, since throwing away one third to one half of the food we produce before it can be eaten is a huge strain on the productive resources of all countries.  Climate change and current worries about the stability of productive resources will only make these issues worse, so now is the time for policy makers to focus on how best to support agricultural development programs that will reduce food losses, protect natural capital and improve food security.  

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja 

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

      PO Box 38, La Pine, Oregon 97739 USA

      Website homepage: www.postharvest.org

      Mobile phone: (916) 708-7218 

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      One of my colleagues from New Zealand, when working in Tanzania on a food processing project for SIDA, went shopping for citrus peels that she wanted to use to make into a delightful candied peel confection (oranges, lemons, and/or limes).  She approached street food vendors in Arusha who was making fresh juices, and requested permission to take the "trash" for her training program.   Once the local women had learned to make the candied peel, and were packaging it in brightly colored containers with nice labels and selling it successfully in the markets, the citrus juice makers realized that they had a valuable by-product and began selling the peels. 

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja 

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Thank you for hosting this discussion on urban/peri-urban ag and street foods.  One of the incentives for motivating street sellers to  increase the purchase of fresh, locally produced foods is price, and if the growers experience a lot of postharvest losses (due to poor handling on the farm, damage during the harvest and while handling, high temperatures and use of poor quality packages or containers), then the prices will rise to compensate for these losses.  Urban and peri-urban producers, therefore, need to be educated on good postharvest practices, food safety and reducing food losses and waste.  Simple, low cost handling practices and easy to use improvements in packages and temperature management can keep losses low, and this will help to keep prices competitive.

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Thank you for the invitation to contribute to this forum.

      There are many postharvest needs that are typically neglected by development projects, value chain upgrades and agri-business ventures.  The resources needed by women and youths who are involved in the food system include rapid assessments (to determine local causes and sources of postharvest problems), cost/benefit analyses, training for extension workers, training for growers, traders, food processors and marketers, access to tools, equipment for quality control, cooling of perishables, storage of staple crops, supplies such as improved containers for perishables, jars or bottles for processing, proper packaging for dried foods, and services such as transport to markets.   A pilot project undertaken in Tanzania with funding from USAID provides an example of this integrated approach: the PTSC in Arusha (housed at AVRDC and Njiro) includes training for women's groups, demos of appropriate technologies, postharvest tools and equipment, a retail shop and services.   LK

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Greetings and good wishes with this excellent topic.

      For social farming (as for any farming project) it is very important to consider how the famers will link to markets.

      Too often, 99% of the work is focused on growing, while little planning is put into what happens after harvest, leading to food losses and falling market prices (if a lot of farmers try to sell the same food at the same time).

       

      Many studies on "linking farmers to markets" have been conducted, but the key for social farming is to promote those practices most suitable and economically feasible for smallholders, specifically those that give women multiple options (for direct marketing or storage or home use) in order to maximize benefits and help reduce risks.

       

      Two projects that I have worked on during the past 10 years (EL SHAMS in Upper Egypt, and Hort CRSP in East Africa) can provide some useful lessons:

      • Improved access to post-harvest handling centers (e.g. pre-cooling and cold stores, packinghouses or food processing facilities) improves the bargaining position of small farmer groups and affiliated farmers. Access to post-harvest centers where growers can sort, grade and pack their fresh produce, pre-cool it and store it in cold stores until such time as price disputes are resolved or alternate buyers identified, thereby limiting their losses after harvest if and when marketing disputes arise.

       

      • Investment in supporting structures such as packinghouses and the mechanisms to support them should start early so that the project can support them from set-up to full implementation and. Such undertakings require at least a three year learning curve – one to set up and learn; one to operate and learn from mistakes, and the third year for operators to take full responsibility from the project.

      • Infrastructure development should start early during the life of the project. The necessary steps (site identification, facility design, feasibility studies, approvals, environmental assessments, construction, equipment procurements, etc) can take a very long time.

      • Risk can be reduced if farmers grow crops that can be dried, stored and sold when prices return to medium or high levels – e.g. dry beans, medicinal and aromatic plants (herbs and spices).

      • Growers associations play an important role in facilitating training courses and introduction of new crops, as well as in managing contracts and agreements of sales beyond the capacity of individual farmers.

      • Farmer to farmer learning (e.g. onion production and field curing was noted as an example of where growers from one area shared experiences with farmers in another area in Egypt) was well received… such a model could be scaled out.

      • The timeliness of user-demanded training is important.  Hands-on training worked best (ex: demonstrations of improved harvesting practices during the actual harvest time).

      • Growers associations need longer term technical assistance for improved organizational development, to establish and maintain good business practices, manage links with buyers, and to learn to properly manage and maintain their postharvest facilities.  Farmers need access to training on an on-going basis, since as they learn new skills, needs will continue to change.  In East Africa, for example, training for women's groups during the first year focused on solar drying and jam/juice making methods, but in the second year they were requested training in direct marketing strategies.

      • New services developed under the EL SHAMS project created new job opportunities for the residents of Upper Egypt villages. Examples include skilled harvesting labor, grading, packing, truck driving, and working in collection/drying centers. New skills under the Hort CRSP East Africa Postharvest Extension project created opportunities for small business development for women (as individuals, widow's groups, church-based groups, etc) to market the many products they made from a variety of perishable food crops. 

       

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

      PO Box 38, La Pine, Oregon 97739 USA

      www.postharvest.org

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Dear moderators,

      Excellent topic and questions, thank you. I would like to comment on the following:

      Policy issues: 

      What policies can make agriculture and food systems more nutrition-enhancing? 

      Many projects and programs (funded by international donors, national governments, charity organizations or businesses during the past 4 decades) seem to have focused mainly on crops that provide calories (staple grains and root crops) rather than nutritious foods such as vegetables, fermented foods, fruits, nuts, dairy products, etc.  Policies that deliberately target or at least include these "other" foods would be very helpful in enhancing nutrition.  Putting an emphasis on reducing food losses/waste can protect limited resources (now spent on producing foods that often go to waste). 

      What are the knowledge gaps in policies associated with nutrition-enhancing agriculture and food systems?

      An important knowledge gap is the lack of information on local costs and benefits of producing, handling, processing and marketing these many nutritious types of foods.  Only when agriculture and food systems are profitable for those involved will they be sustainable and likely to move beyond the "trial" or "project" stage. 

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

      PO Box 38, La Pine, Oregon 97739 USA

      Website homepage: www.postharvest.org

      Mobile phone: (916) 708-7218 

      Follow us on Twitter: @PostharvestOrg

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      I have two short responses that I hope will be considered by the discussion forum as useful appraoches to making agriculture work for nutrition:

      1) include horticulture whenever agricultural development is considered -- fruits and vegetable are a good source of vitamins, micro-nutrients and phyto-nutrients at reasonable cost

      2) pay more attention to reducing food losses and postharvest waste -- a lot of money, labor and natural resources are wasted on agricultural production if the foods are not eaten by people

       

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

      USA

      Website homepage: www.postharvest.org

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Dear Moderators,

      I would like to submit some answers the questions posed, based upon my fieldwork in horticultural development in over 20 developing countries and 20 years.

       

      Based on your own knowledge and experience in the area of improving nutrition through food and agriculture programmes:

      1. If you were designing an agricultural investment programme, what are the top 5 things you would do to maximize its impact on nutrition?

             #1: I would make sure the programme paid attention to more than the production of food and increasing yields

             #2: The programme would include interventions aimed at reducing postharvest losses, protectin nutirional value and food safety during the period from farm to consumer.

             #3: The value chain actors involved in food distribution and storage would be key stakeholders in the programme

             #4: Consumers would be provided with training on food storage, processing and cooking with the aim of improving nutritional quality of the food supply

             #5: Capacity building efforts in food and nutrition for extension workers, educators and government staff would be included in the programme.

              

       

      2. To support the design and implementation of this programme, where would you like to see more research done, and why?

      Many countries "know" they experience high levels of food losses and waste, but there has been little systematic measurement of the causes and sources of these losses. the first step to improving nutition and access to high quality foods is to find out where, when and why foods are being lost, damaged, or losing nutitional value (for exmaple due to temperature abuse or pest attacks).

       

      3. What can our institutions do to help country governments commit to action around your recommendations, and to help ensure implementation will be effective?

      Assist with capacity building efforts, for example by offering short courses, study tours, workshops, etc on agriculture, food and nutrition development in each region of the world.

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

      PO Box 38, La Pine, Oregon 97739 USA

      Website homepage: www.postharvest.org

      Follow us on Twitter: @PostharvestOrg

       

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Thank you for posting this discussion topic -- as a horticultural scientist and educator, this subject has been of keen interest to me for many years. "Food security" seems to be measured in terms of people's access to calories, putting high calorie staple food like grains and root crops in the forefront, while most fruits and vegetables, excellent sources of nutritious vitamins, minerals and micro-nutrients, have been largely neglected. Even when hort crops have been included in research studies or field based projects, the focus has stayed on increasing production, while only 5% of global ag dev resources have gone to postharvest aspects (the reduction of the current high rate of postharvest losses, and the maintainence of quality, food safety and nutritonal value). I would hope the term "Food and nutrition security" would better capture some of these missing elements.

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Dear FSN Forum members,

      following my earlier post regarding the AERI EL SHAMS project in Egypt "Agricultural Exports and Rural Incomes - Enhanced Livelihoods from Smallholder Horticultural Activities Managed Sustainably", I found a few key documents in my files from our literature review that will provide more details.

      The Chief of Party was Tom Herlehey -- he prepared a summary "Lessons Learned" (linked) presentation that did a good job of covering the basics.

      Burt Swanson wrote an article (linked) about the project from the extension education angle for a conference held in 2004.

      LK

       

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      I spent several years working with the University of California, Davis as Project Director for the USAID El-SHAMS project in Egypt.

      Many farmers organizations/associations/cooperatives were developed and nutured during the life of the project, and we got the chance to go back to Egypt in 2009 to reasssess the outcomes and long term impacts.

       

      Here is a case study we developed with some lessons learned. Overall we found that the farmer associations "need longer term technical assistance for improved organizational development, to establish and maintain good business practices, manage links with buyers, and to learn to properly manage and maintain their postharvest facilities" in order to be successful over the long term. 

      LK

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

      PO Box 38, La Pine, Oregon 97739 USA

      Website homepage: www.postharvest.org

      ************

      Case Study:

      Linking Smallholder Horticultural Farmers with Lucrative Export Markets

      Project name: Agricultural Exports and Rural Incomes - Enhanced Livelihood from Smallholder Horticultural Activities Managed Sustainably (AERI- EL SHAMS)

      Years of operation: 2003-07

      Country and region: Upper Egypt

      Purposes: To increase rural income in Upper Egypt by building the capacity of small and medium sized farmers to improve their production, processing and marketing of horticultural products. To enhance the livelihoods of smallholders in Upper Egypt by enabling them to participate in the high-value export chain for fruits, vegetables and medicinal and aromatic plants.

      Implementer(s): CARE, UC-Davis, ACDI/VOCA, NVG and EQI

      Donor: USAID

      Link to the final evaluation report which contains the case study: 

      BMGF Appropriate Postharvest Technology Project (WFLO 2009-10)

      http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-1847.pdf

       

    • Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation
      United States of America

      Some of the new projects we are currently launching in Africa and India (postharvest training ands services centers) include a postharvest shop and offer tools, supplies, packaging materials and various types of simple, low cost equipment that farmers and traders can use to reduce food losses between harvest and the consumer.  Some of the more expensive technologies and tools such as a refractometer (used to measure sugar content to determine ripeness and the best time to harvest certain fruits) can be leased for a day or a week.  Higher priced equipment such as walk-in cool rooms for temporary food storage or machines for various types of food processing can be paid for over time on a rent-to-own basis.   This allows individuals or groups of users to use the technologies on a trial basis, gain the benefits of reduced losses and improved quality, while spreading out the payments over a season or even over a year. 

      Dr. Lisa Kitinoja

      The Postharvest Education Foundation

      USA