Assessment of postharvest losses in soybeans production in the Builsa District in the Upper East Region and Savelugu District in the Northern Region Of Ghana
| dc.contributor.author | Atiim, Philip | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-06-15T12:24:58Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-04-19T15:05:08Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-06-15T12:24:58Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-04-19T15:05:08Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-06-15 | |
| dc.description | A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Postharvest Technology, 2011 | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The study was conducted to assess the postharvest losses of soybeans in the Builsa and Savelugu districts of the Upper East and Northern Regions of Ghana, respectively. Data was collected from forty (40) Soybeans farmers in each district using a structured questionnaire. The survey revealed that 76.3% of the respondents were males while female soybeans farmers represented 23.8%. The age range of respondents from 18 to 45 years (37.5%) formed the largest group in soybeans farming. Out of the 80 respondents 53 farmers representing 66.3% had no formal education, and 16.3% who had only basic education. Only 6.3% and 11.3% had secondary and vocational education respectively. The study revealed that wrong harvesting time and methods accounted for the greatest of losses in soybeans production with 63.8% cumulative percentage. Crop variety and poor agronomic practices accounted for cumulative percentage loss of 5 and 13% respectively. The losses were reported to be greatest within the last two months of the year (November and December) with losses of between two (2) and three (3) mini bags per acre are reported. Losses were also reported during handling/processing; 21 respondents representing 26.3% and 2 of 2.5% of total respondents said they lost produce during threshing and winnowing respectively. The study showed that most farmers did not have access to training in postharvest handling of soybeans. Twenty-six percent of the respondents have had training while 73% have never been talked to regarding crop handling. NGOs were found to be the main providers of training to farmers in the study area according to 52% of the respondents. Marketing and market channels are limited in the study area; 73 farmers representing 91% of respondents sell in the open market without any formal market system, this group of farmers are always left at the mercy of middlemen who make up 51% of buyers of the crop. Harvesting at the right time was thought to be the best way to reduce postharvest losses of the crop by 48.8% of the respondents, while use of equipment was considered by 22.5% of the respondents as necessary to reducing losses. 28.8% said training is key to reducing postharvest losses in soybeans. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | KNUST | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/3974 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.title | Assessment of postharvest losses in soybeans production in the Builsa District in the Upper East Region and Savelugu District in the Northern Region Of Ghana | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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