Part 1
The opportunity: post-harvest loss is a business problem
Why produce that spoils is both a hardship and a starting point for a business.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, fresh fruits and vegetables are often lost after harvest, before they reach a buyer. Research on vegetables in Ghana points to the same causes again and again: crops with a lot of water that spoil fast, rough handling, hot and humid storage, little or no cooling, and weak returns for farmers who invest in better handling.
These losses are not only a food security problem. They are an economic problem. Every kilogram that rots is a kilogram a farmer grew but could not sell: lost income, lost labour and lost inputs. Losses tend to be worse when farmers cannot find buyers at harvest time.
How to talk about loss figures
You will see headline percentages for post-harvest loss in reports and news. They vary by crop, place, year and how loss is measured, and many are estimates repeated from earlier studies. When you use a number in a pitch, name its source and year, or measure the loss yourself with the farmers you work with.
The business insight is simple. Where there is waste, there may be an opportunity. If you can buy produce before it spoils and turn it into a stable product, you capture value that would otherwise be destroyed. The key is that the new product must be something people actually want, at a price they will pay.
Exercise 1.1 · Find high-loss crops near you
- Pick three perishable crops in your region that are often lost after harvest.
- For each, ask farmers and traders how much is usually lost and when losses are worst. Write down what they tell you and who said it.
- Note the price a farmer gets when the crop sells and what happens when it does not.
- Note whether the crop could be dried, ground or otherwise made stable. You will screen these crops in Part 3.