Yeshiwas Yebirzaf, Alemayehu Melkamu, Adgo Enyew
Bahir Dar University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Ethiopia.
Debre Markos University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ethiopia.
Heliyon. 2023 May 3;9(5):e15905. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15905. eCollection 2023 May.
Food and nutrition security is not only addressed by increasing production alone, it should also ensure by reducing food loss. Onion has a great contribution to both economic and health issues, however, its production and productivity in the country is low. Thus, the study was initiated to identify multiple constraints on onion production and postharvest handling practices and to determine the extent of postharvest loss along the supply chain in northwestern Ethiopia. The survey was conducted on production, marketing, and consumption at farm, wholesale, retailer, and consumers level. The multistage sampling procedure was employed. The present results revealed that sex, age, educational level, production experience, land covered by onion, and household size has a significant influence on onion production. Sex, age, education level, active household size, selling experience, amount purchased, and storage duration have a significant association with onion production and postharvest loss. Major onion production and post-harvest loss constraints were high perishability, nature of the crop, market, linkage problem and low market price, lack of awareness of using post-harvest technologies, absence of better storable varieties, shortage of fertilizer access, disease and insect pests. The whole purchased produce never reached the consumer's hands. The total postharvest loss of onion at the farmer, wholesale, retail, and consumer level was found to be 29.775%, of which the higher proportion of losses (35.5%) was observed at the farmer's level. Based on the findings of the present study, onion producers were challenged by timely and adequate supplies and unfair, high cost of major production inputs, and high post-harvest loss. Therefore, producers and handlers in each supply chain need to be trained on affordable and applicable postharvest technologies. In addition, continuous capacity-building training, improving infrastructures, and input access along the supply chain should be designed and implemented to improve better crop management and postharvest handling practices. Moreover, marketing cooperatives working on onion postharvest handling and marketing systems should be functional to absorb surplus production and ensure continuous supply to the market. Thus, meaningful interventions in the development and implementation of policy on sustainable production, handling practices, and supply of onion should be designed.
粮食和营养安全不能仅靠增加产量来解决，还应通过减少粮食损失来确保。洋葱对经济和健康问题都有很大贡献，然而，该国洋葱的产量和生产率较低。因此，开展该研究以确定洋葱生产和收获后处理实践中的多重制约因素，并确定埃塞俄比亚西北部供应链沿线收获后损失的程度。该调查在农场、批发、零售和消费者层面的生产、销售和消费情况展开。采用了多阶段抽样程序。目前的结果显示，性别、年龄、教育水平、生产经验、洋葱种植面积和家庭规模对洋葱生产有显著影响。性别、年龄、教育水平、活跃家庭规模、销售经验、购买量和储存时长与洋葱生产和收获后损失有显著关联。洋葱生产和收获后损失的主要制约因素包括易腐性高、作物特性、市场、联系问题和市场价格低、缺乏使用收获后技术的意识、缺乏更好的耐储存品种、肥料获取不足、病虫害。购买的全部农产品从未到达消费者手中。在农民、批发、零售和消费者层面，洋葱收获后的总损失为29.775%，其中农民层面的损失比例更高（35.5%）。基于本研究的结果，洋葱生产者面临着主要生产投入供应不及时且不足、价格不公平且成本高以及收获后损失大等挑战。因此，每个供应链中的生产者和处理者都需要接受关于经济适用且可行的收获后技术的培训。此外，应设计并实施持续的能力建设培训、改善基础设施以及供应链沿线的投入获取，以改善作物管理和收获后处理实践。此外，从事洋葱收获后处理和销售系统的营销合作社应发挥作用，以吸纳过剩产量并确保持续供应市场。因此，应设计有意义的干预措施，以制定和实施关于洋葱可持续生产、处理实践和供应的政策。
