Post-Harvest Handling, Marketing and Enterprise Skills
Core concepts
Understand why produce deteriorates: respiration, transpiration, ethylene, bruising and microbial decay. Learn handling practices: harvest at the right maturity, cool quickly, avoid damage, grade and pack, and store under suitable temperature and humidity. Know that some produce is chilled-sensitive and should not be stored too cold.
For marketing and enterprise, understand costs (fixed and variable), pricing, gross margin, break-even, record keeping and customer needs. Learn the difference between direct selling and wholesale, and the role of quality, presentation and reliability. Know basic business planning: identify the market, calculate costs, set a price that covers costs and gives a margin, and review results.
Traps in questions
A frequent trap is confusing profit with turnover; high sales with high costs can still lose money. Another is storing all produce at the same temperature; chilling injury can ruin sensitive crops. Candidates also forget that rough handling causes losses even when storage is correct.
Worked example
If a crop costs 200 to produce and sells for 350, the gross margin is 150. Rule of thumb: know your costs per unit before setting a price, and cool produce quickly after harvest.