1.5 Requirements for export and quality assurance
a) Export grading
Grading should be carried out to
remove fruit outside of the specifications and to meet quality requirements.
No separate size grading into specific sizes and counts within cartons are required,
assuming that the minimum size is attained. Shredded paper may be included in
the base of the carton; no individual fruit wrapping is required.
Pickling Keitt and Kent varieties
mangoes should be loose packed to a net weight of between 13 and 18.2 kg. Cartons
must not be overfilled during packing.
b) Market requirements
Market factors for the produce
Market factors affecting farmers' decisions on the growing of specific crops are potential purchasers for the produce: neighbours, townspeople, retailers, jobbers or middlemen, commission agents. Quality requirements of the buyer include size, shape, maturity, appearance and perishability of the produce.
A commodity can be "too good" as well as "too bad": one that greatly exceeds market requirements may not bring higher prices and thus be a waste of labour and resources.
An important limitation of most markets is that only certain varieties of a commodity are traded and others are unacceptable. In Indonesia, for example, the Agricultural Seed Experiment Station in East Java has recorded 242 varieties of mango, but only seven have any commercial potential beyond certain villages. The non-marketable mangoes, however, constitute about 70 percent of the total production, and the local grower can effectively increase his market share only by replacing existing trees with those of the desirable varieties.
Pickling mangoes should be when
immature with incomplete seed formation, green, free from diseases, scars, mechanical
damage, bruises and insect damage.