Cold Chain Management of Fruits in Ghana (A Case Study of the Pineapple Sector)

Abstract

Ghana's Horticultural sector over recent years has seen tremendous growth and development with increasing demand for tropical fruits in Europe and the rest of the world. With the rise in competition among producing countries, it has become very important for the sector to be strengthened. Demand for quality produce by consumers in these developed countries has been a challenge to producers from developing countries like Ghana. For Ghana to compete favorably among its peers in the global market, quality parameters relevant to international markets like the cold chain and its management is of paramount importance to all the players in the sector. This research therefore sought to catalogue the entire postharvest practices in the sector, find out the awareness and practice of cold chain management with the pineapple sector as a case study and find the best practices in the sector with regards to temperature, and which are of importance. It was observed that, there was immense knowledge (100%) of the cold chain system among pineapple growers in the country and efforts were being made in practicing it. It was also found that growers were aware of GLOBALGAP, HACCP and many other sophisticated systems and do try their very best to abide by these regulations with different levels of compliance. Finally with respect to cold chain temperature monitoring and management, the results showed that even though local growers have taken steps to acquire either complete or partial cold chain systems, little has been done to improve the management and monitoring of produce temperature, especially regarding produce in transit from the farm to the port.