An overview of postharvest losses and waste in Guyana

Radisson hotel

Grenada

18 November, 2016

• Post-harvest losses and waste can be as high as 50 per

cent, and even higher for some commodities in

developing countries.

• Estimates of postharvest losses and waste in Guyana

vary greatly from 1 to 50% or even higher in some crop

types.

• Based on the limited data available about one third of all

fruits and vegetables produced in Guyana are never

consumed.

Post harvest distribution Map

Farmer

Wholesaler Retailer Supermarket

Middlemen

Postharvest challenges

Postharvest losses vary

greatly:

- Among commodities

- Production areas

- Cropping seasons

- Farm location

- Climate change

Postharvest value chain

Access to farms by boat,

farmer to transport harvested

produce from field to boat

Offload to

trade with

Middlemen

Transportation of produce by middle man

Retail Market

Local effort to reduce postharvest

losses and waste in Guyana

Capacity building for stakeholders.

More resources are made available for R&D.

The construction of postharvest facilities and

acquisition of refrigerated trucks.

Encouraging consolidation and vertical integration

among producers and marketers.

Improve infrastructure to connect smallholders to

markets

Operations at the packaging facility

Conclusion

• A wide range of existing food processing technologies

is not accessible to and adapted by Guyana.

• Climatic conditions also contribute to crop losses

Floods, heavy rains, droughts and other related factors

cause considerable post harvest crop loss.

• In Guyana pre and post-harvest crop losses are higher

than the global average.