The financial impact of postharvest packaging on export table grapes focusing on shelf-life and fruit losses
Date
2024-03
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Grapes of inferior quality are not viewed as attractive to consumers. This causes reduced demand and prices for those grapes resulting in financial losses in highly competitive domestic and export markets. South Africa is the fourth-largest exporter of table grapes in the world. In South Africa, table grapes are mostly produced for export with the main destination markets being in the Northern Hemisphere. Exporting to the Northern Hemisphere involves long transport time windows due to logistical problems associated with harbor functions, Covid-19, and a trend for container ships to travel at lower speeds to limit carbon emissions. The shipping and storage processes of table grapes have therefore been prolonged, and the restrictions implemented during Covid-19 created major backlog issues at the ports. This also worsened the logistical bottlenecks at the harbours, especially for exports. There is therefore a stronger incentive to control the occurrence of postharvest decay and diseases in table grapes for an extended time. Prolonged storage increases table grapes’ sensitivity to decay. It is therefore important that grapes are protected and maintain their quality for a prolonged period until they reach the consumer in the export market. Storage and shelf-life extension are generally associated with a decrease in overall table grape quality and the longer the grapes are stored, the worse the quality. Maintaining the quality and prolonging the shelf life of table grapes postharvest is important as typically, the grapes are subjected to the risk of various postharvest losses and long periods of storage before they reach their final market/point of sale. The articles generated during the literature review all focused on the effect that packaging has on table grape quality and not the financial impacts. None of the articles used a budget model to calculate which option is the most economically feasible given the damage that it can cause. Therefore, enterprise budget models are constructed to determine if the packaging costs of different packaging combinations are economically feasible given the quality deterioration that might occur with prolonged shelf life.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
Description
Thesis (MAgric) --Stellenbosch University, 2024.