Post-harvest loss reduction in Asia-Pacific developing economies
Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies
ISSN: 2044-0839
Article publication date: 13 November 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the post-harvest loss experience of several Asia-Pacific economies to analyse the potential impacts of reduction of such losses using a range of remedial measures.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework has been developed and then applied to a case study based on several Asia-Pacific economies to provide an empirical basis for the analysis in the paper.
Findings
Limited access to vital farm inputs and credit, poor infrastructure and lack of technical and market information are some of the critical challenges confronting many small farmers in developing economies including those in the selected case-study countries. The estimated “food savings” are considerable if Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s pledge to reduce food losses and waste by 10 per cent by 2020, relative to the 2011-2012 levels is realised in the case-study economies.
Research limitations/implications
Further work is urgently required to collect more up-to-date data on food losses along the food supply chain, including post-harvest losses, in many economies across the world, including the Asia-Pacific region.
Originality/value
The analysis of post-harvest losses is underpinned by a conceptual framework that has been developed and applied to several Asia-Pacific economies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the participants of the Workshop entitled “Reducing post-harvest losses in selected APEC economies” held in Brisbane, Australia during 24-28 November 2014. The support provided by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development of Australia is greatly appreciated. The authors wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.
Citation
Gunasekera, D., Parsons, H. and Smith, M. (2017), "Post-harvest loss reduction in Asia-Pacific developing economies", Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 303-317. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-12-2015-0058
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited