Lesson Fourteen

Maturity

The farmer uses a plant’s maturity to decide the exact moment or stage to pick a crop. The stage
at which the crops should be harvested is vital to the quality of the product. Good quality is
achieved when harvesting is done at the proper stage of maturity. If fruits are harvested before
they have matured properly, they may not ripen completely and may not develop enough flavour.
Crops that are harvested too late (over mature) will have a shorter shelf-life and will spoil easily.

Maturity indices

Maturity indices are measurements that can be used to decide whether a particular fruit or
vegetable is mature and ready to be harvested. Maturity can be decided by subjective or objective
observation. These observations often include:

 physical methods: for example, observing size, shape, colour and texture
 chemical methods: for example, measuring the amount of sugar (starch) in produce, as
the amount of starch increases with maturity; and measuring the acidity, as organic acids
decrease as the fruit ripens
 physiological methods: for example, measuring respiration, as it peaks when fruits or
vegetables reach maturity; and measuring ethylene production, as the quantity of this
hormone increases as fruit ripens, particularly in fleshy fruits such as tomatoes, apples,
melons and bananas

Other measures that can be used include the natural detachment of parts of the plant (such as
leaves and fruit), duration after flowering, firmness, dry matter, juice content, oil content and
waxiness or tenderness. These can all be used to determine a date for harvest.

Physiological maturity

This refers to the stage in the development of the fruits and vegetables when maximum growth
and maturation has occurred. The fruits are usually fully ripe at this time. The physiological
mature stage is followed by senescence, which is when cells stop dividing and a fruit starts to get
worse with age. For example, French bean pods or ochro are physiologically mature when their
seeds are fully developed and the pods will dehisce (burst open) with little pressure.

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Horticultural / Commercial maturity

Horticultural maturity refers to any stage of development when the commodity has reached the
level of development needed for its intended use. It is sometimes called commercial maturity.
For example, a papaya with green pulp and peel that has reached its maximum size is already
commercially mature as a vegetable, but must develop a tinge of yellow colour for it to be sweet
enough to be used for dessert.

Harvest maturity

This is a combination of physiological and commercial maturity. It is a stage where the fruits /
vegetables are at their peak condition. When they reach the consumers, they have an acceptable
flavour or appearance and will have a good shelf-life. For example, farmers will harvest fully
coloured tomato fruits for local markets and for processing. However, for a distant market, the
farmers will need to harvest the tomato fruits that have only just started developing colour.

The maturity of fruit at harvest will greatly affect their quality all along the value chain after
harvest. Farmers need to apply accurate, efficient and effective maturity indices to ensure that
there is high quality at all levels along the value chain. Farmers cannot use a single maturity
index to determine the maturity of fruits. They need to use different parameters to make accurate
decisions. There are slight differences in maturity among the cultivars of the same crop, so
different indices need to be used.

Appropriate harvesting procedures

Time of day

The best time to pick fruit and greens for salads is early in the morning, before or around sunrise.
This ensures that the produce is still cool and will stay crisp and dew-covered from the night.
Other fruiting vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are less sensitive to wilting,
so they can be picked later in the day, as can root vegetables such as carrots. However, these
items need to move out of the sun and into the refrigerator or a cool place quickly, particularly if
the weather is warm.

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Manual and mechanical harvest methods

Manual harvest Mechanical harvest

Used for cocoa, coffee, bananas and yams Combine harvesters used for grain crops
• Methods include hand-picking (cocoa • Specialized harvesting equipment used for
and coffee), uprooting, cutting using a sugar cane and sweet potato
knife or a cutlass (bananas) and digging • Requires large, flat fields that equipment can
out with a fork (yams) be turned around in
• Used for fields that are not accessible to • Saves time as it gathers crop quickly
machinery • Less manual labour required
• Used for crops grown in small plots or
nurseries, using multiple cropping or
intercropping systems
• Time-consuming
• Labour-intensive

Removal of the crop

Careful harvesting, handling and transporting of fruits and vegetables from the field is necessary
to preserve product quality.

Polythene bags

Clear or blue polythene bags are used to pack banana bunches in the field. The packed bags are
then transported to the packing house from the banana plantation. This technique of packaging
bananas reduces damage to the fruit caused by improper handling.

Plastic field boxes

These are durable containers that can last many years. Many containers are designed so that they
can be stacked one on top of the other without crushing the produce when they are full. They can
nest inside each other when they are empty to make them easy to transport.

Wooden field boxes

These boxes are made of thin pieces of wood bound together with wire.

Bulk bins

Bulk bins that can hold 200–500  kg are used for harvesting fresh fruits and vegetables. These
bins are much more economical than the field boxes in terms of the amount of produce they can

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hold and their durability. They also protect the produce better during transport to the packing
house. They are made of wood and plastic materials. The depth of a bulk bin depends on the type
of fruit or vegetable being transported.

Appropriate harvesting technology

Techniques in manual harvesting

The most important advantage of manual harvesting is that the workers can quickly detect the
fruit that is ready for harvest and then harvest that produce. Because the designers of mechanical
harvesters did not have computer-based image-processing equipment, they designed equipment
that could harvest the produce using a mass-removal approach. This method often results in more
damage than when the fruit is harvested individually. Although manual harvesting has the
disadvantage of being slow, it is expected that much of the world’s fruit will continue to be
harvested by hand for the foreseeable future.

Harvesting aids

Harvesting aids are used wherever they are economically productive. They are usually owned by
large farms or a cooperative. The three-point bulk loader is towed by a tractor on a three-point
linkage. The self-propelled bulk loader has an engine and a cab, so it does not need to be towed.

Choice and handling of containers

Preventing post-harvest food losses is very important in the production of soft fruit and
vegetables. This is why it is essential to pack the harvest into the correct type of container.

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