ASSESSMENT ON PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF POSTHARVEST HANDLING OF CUT-FLOWERS IN LINSSEN ROSES ETHIOPIA P.L.C

Abstract

Floriculture is the newest of Ethiopia’s export industries, having grown very rapidly over the past years to become the country’s fourth largest export industry. The Ethiopian floriculture industry began in the 1980s when state-owned farms started exporting cut flowers to Europe. The objectives of this study were to: identify the major challenges of the company in terms of post-harvest managements in Linssen Roses Ethiopia P.L.C. The study was conducted using mixed research method. To this effect, survey questioners and interview were the method used to collect data which is supported with secondary sources. Responses of 133 survey participants were used in analysis in addition qualitative data was collected through interviews from four purposive selected informants. The result show that the major problems of floricultures in relation to post harvesting management were manual harvesting, sorting, storing and packing practice of the company. It is concluded that the major problems of floricultures postharvest managements are many but failing to work on employee capacity building regarding product handling on post-harvesting phase is the source of every problems in the company. Flower maturity, temperature, water supply, and Mechanical damage are mentioned with regards to major problems leading the company to losses products during post-harvesting phase. The result of this study show that working on employee capacity building regarding product handling on post harvesting phase is a key step in improving post-harvest losses of cut flowers.