Republic of the Philippines

Region IV-A CALABARZON

Commission on Higher Education
Rizal College of Taal
Calle G. Marella, Taal, Batangas
College of Education
Bachelor of Secondary Education

Learning Plan in Postharvest Handling

I. Overview

Postharvest management refers to the systematic handling of agricultural commodities

after harvesting. The postharvest chain involves a series of operations starting immediately
after taking a product from the field to its consumption.

In this lesson’s abstraction, the students will be taught about the definition,
procedures, and importance of postharvest handling through the assistance of various
agricultural terminologies and a sequence chart.

II. Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

 define postharvest handling;

 value the importance of postharvest handling and its agricultural terminologies;
and
 execute various postharvesting procedures and its effect to commodities through
short skit, song performance, and poem composition.

III. Subject Matter

Topic: The Postharvest Operations/Handling

Materials: Visual Aids, Television, Cartolina
Values: Appreciation and Agricultural Awareness
Time Frame: 1 hour; no specific date
References: Lantican, R.M. 2002. The Science and Practice of Crop Production.
SEARCA UPLB College, Laguna. Retrieved from
http://eagri.tnau.ac.in/eagri50/HORT381/pdf/lec02.pdf and;
https://www.slideshare.net/lawrenceedullantes/agriculture-
extension-and-communication-ver12

IV. Learning Strategies / Procedures

A. Routinary Activities

Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity

“Let us pray first, anyone who wants to
lead the prayer?”
(One student will lead the prayer)

“Good morning class!”

Good morning, Ma’am!

“Please arrange your chairs according to
your row.”
(Students arrange their chairs.)

“You may now take your seat.”

Thank you, Ma’am!

“Mr./Ms. Secretary, may I know who are
the absentee/s for today?”

I’m so glad to hear that everyone is (The Secretary will stand and tell the
present in our class. absentee)

By the way before we are going to start

our lesson, let me introduce myself. I am
Jeen Noel R. Alvarez and I’ll be your
teacher for Agricultural Education.

B. Motivation

Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity

“Okay, are you all ready for our lesson?” Yes Ma’am!

“Who among you here have farms?”

(Students will raise their hands)

“What crops do you usually plant? Have you

tried harvesting your own planted crops?”
(Students will raise their hands and
 answer)

“I want you now to enumerate and identify

the steps you perform to your harvested
crops.”

(Pick 3 students to answer)

(Students will raise their hands and

answer)
“Good job, class! All your answers are
correct, because we have different kinds of
crops, like the rice and corn, and the
perishables, which the fruits and vegetables
belong. And based on your responses, you
have your own way of harvesting. Some said,
they do it manually and some said, they are
harvesting the crops through machines. It
also requires different steps after harvest to
lengthen the life of that specific commodity”
Thank you for those wonderful answers.

But the fun doesn’t stop here, because I have

prepared an activity and I called it
“PICTIONARY”. You have to work out what
the word is from a set of letters given below
the images. Do you understand?

Let’s start with this one.

(Students will listen to the lesson

(The images are about COOLING)
objectives)

Very good! The first set of pictures has

something to do with COOLING. Let’s move
on to the second set. Who wants to try? (Students will raise their hands and
 answer)

(The images are about HARVESTING)

Good guess! The second set of pictures has

something to do with HARVESTING. Kudos
(Students will raise their hands and
to you! How about Set 3? What do the
answer)
pictures tell you?

(The images are about DISINFECTION)

Easy-peasy for you, Mr./Ms. ______! You got it

right! The third set of images is about
DISINFECTION. Can somebody guess the
fourth set? (Students will raise their hands and
answer)

(The images are about PACKAGING)

(Students will raise their hands and

Excellent! This has something to do with answer)
PACKAGING. For the last one, who wants to
try?

(The images are about COMMODITY)

Brilliant! The last set is about COMMODITY.

It was an effort that you have an idea about (Students will raise their hands and
the pictures I’ve shown. For that, you all answer)
deserve a Paro-paro G clap, because you
really did answer it all correctly! Have you
encountered that one yet?

Okay, eyes on me. 1,2,3 (stomp) - 1,2,3 (clap)

– (Students will perform the viral dance step
of Paro-paro G)
Not yet, Sir.

And to those people who answered those 5

sets, come in front and claim your reward.

C. Analysis

After guessing all the pictures right, what

have you noticed from all the pictures I’ve
shown you?

Awesome! It’s all about agriculture. In what

part of agriculture do you think will we
focus on?
(Random) I think all the pictures
have something do with our topic
for today which could be about
agriculture.
Finally, someone said it! Harvesting has
something to do with our lesson for today.
I’m glad that some of you have at least an
idea with our today’s topic. (Random) I assume, Sir, that it’s
going to be about harvesting.

Are you ready to listen?

I can’t hear you.

Your voices are echoing. Seems like your Yes, Sir!
ears are all set to listen. Let’s proceed.

YES, SIR!

D. Abstraction

“Today, our topic is all about the

POSTHARVEST OPERATIONS/ HANDLING. “

(The teacher states the lesson objectives)

“When you hear the word POSTHARVEST

HANDLING what comes into your mind?
Anyone?”

(Pick 2 students to answer)

“Thank you; please listen attentively

because after the discussion we will have
our short quiz.” Now, let’s define
(The students’ answers may vary)
“Postharvest Handling”

The word “postharvest” means “after a

harvest, especially with regard to food
preservation.” So, what’s Postharvest
Handling, (name)?

“POSTHARVEST HANDLING”

“Is the specific term used for the

movement of commodities and
operations through which the
commodity undergoes from
 harvest to possession to the fixed
consumer; this includes the
technological aspects of
marketing and distribution.
Different crops undergo different
steps on postharvest. “ (Student will read the technical
definition)
Why are postharvest practices done?

● Vegetables/fruits are living tissues

that undergo continuous change after
harvest.

● Rapid deterioration can occur.

● Can affect quality of vegetable/fruits

(Freshness and nutritional).

● Safety of the vegetable/fruits

(Pesticide residues) (Microbiological
organisms)

For you, what is the importance of doing this

kind of practice?

Thank you, Mr./Ms.__________ for your

wonderful answer. Let’s move on to the
postharvest procedures.

THE POSTHARVEST PROCEDURES

(Random) Ma’am, to remove the

harvested commodities produced
from the field, so that it will not
expose to direct sunlight or in high
 temperature.

After harvesting, we have here the second

step, which is the reception.

Reception is the packing house or the

shaded place which is not exposed directly
to the sun and the preparatory steps for
storage to market is done.

Next step is pre-cooling. Kindly read the

definition, Ms. ________.

Pre-cooling refers to the rapid removal of

field heat shortly after the harvest of a crop.
Field heat can be defined as the difference in
temperature between the temperature of
the crop harvested and the optimal storage
temperature of that product. In general, the
temperature should be cooled down till it
reaches 88% of the existing difference in
temperature and its optimal storage
temperature. Field heat should be removed
as fast as possible since, for most produce,
an hour delay at field conditions of about
35°C will lead to a loss in shelf-life of about 1
day – even at optimal storage conditions.

Then next is the Selection, Cleaning and

Disinfection”

It means class that, in this stage of the

commodity, Selection, they are going to
classify the commodities into groups
designated by the person, according to the
set criteria. Sorting is done by hand to
remove which is not suitable to market or
storage due to damage by insects, diseases
and mechanical.

Then cleaning before the commodity are

marketed various amounts of cleaning are
necessary which typically involves the
removal of soil dust, adhering debris, insects
and pest residue. But we just don’t need to
clean it we need to make sure that we used
clean water for washing our commodity.

There are several types of cleaning:

1. Washing – dunking, spraying, wiping.

2. Dry brushing – no water, just brush.

3. Don’t wash – washing/extra handling can

cause damage, decreasing quality. and
because washing is not enough disinfection
needed to apply to the commodity.

“Chlorine in fresh water is often used to

disinfect to wash the commodity.” (Student proceeds to read the
definition)

The next step is Drying.

It is the removal of the excess moisture

caused by washing and will be removed.
Grading will be the next step. It is the
process of classifying into groups after
drying based on criteria, bearing an
acceptable name and size grouping. Then,
some of the commodities undergo other
treatments like CURING, WAXING.

After drying, we have packing or

packaging.

It is the act of putting commodities in a

container. It is also the process to ensure
adequate protection and safe delivery of the
product from the ultimate consumer.

Pay attention at the grocery store and look

how a product is displayed. It is important
that a commodity is stored properly and
should be placed in a well-lit and cool area.
Do you agree?

Right? And also, did you know if the

commodity is directly exposed/ displayed, it
is subject to pathogen and microorganism
that can contribute to the deterioration of
our products. Do you think it will affect the
farmers income, right class?”

That’s why the next step is important, which

is the storing.

Storage is the process of keeping crops in

structure, designed to protect to stored
products from inclement weather and pest
for a short or longer period of time to await
processing or transport to other location. In
the case of fruits and vegetables, it should be
stored in specific temperature since crops
have a short life span compare to the grain
crops.

And after storing, we have last procedure in

postharvesting which is the transporting.

During this step, we need to consider the

commodities are transported. Is the vehicle
clean and cool? We need to see to it that we
should not load our commodity with a very
warm vehicle, because it will affect the shelf
life of our commodity.

After discussing the importance and

procedures of postharvest handling, how
does sequence chart help you in
understanding the text?

Yes, Sir!

Exactly! We can also understand the steps in

postharvesting in a non-linear manner.

So, what is the importance of sequence chart

in agriculture? Kindly read, Mr./Ms. _________.

A sequence chart shows a series of steps or

events in the order in which they take place.
Yes, Sir!
Any concept that has a distinct order can be
displayed in this type of organizer. It is an
excellent tool for teaching students the steps
necessary to reach a final point.

After knowing the significance of sequence

chart in agriculture, it is also important that
we should familarize agricultural terms to
understand the aforementioned filed. So,
what is the roles and functions of language
to agriculture? Kindly read, Mr./Ms._________.

● Translating technical information

with farmer’s language

● Utilizing suitable approaches and

extension teaching methods

● Disseminating new information and

technology
 ● Conducting agricultural activities

● Recognizing and guiding the phase of

the change process

● Contributing to the professional

development of the discipline

● English language as an important tool

for agricultural professionals to
communicate with visitors and
clients.

It is very crucial that we should have a

knowledge abou terms in a specific field, like
in agriculture, to guide us through the
functions and ideas that we will obtain in the (Random) It helps me understand
agricultural world. the flow of every procedure in order
to get the function of a specific thing
right based on our discussion about
postharvest handling.

And that’s all for our topic. Do you

understand our today’s discussion?

Is it crystal?

(Students will read the definition)

Is it clear?

If that’s the case, we will have a group

activity.

E. Application

Now, I will group you into three. This will be

the Group 1, Group 2, and the rest is the
Group 3.I have here a marker and a cartolina
for you all to use in your presentation.

Group 1 is assigned to compose a song about

the procedures of postharvest handling. Any
tune will do.
(Student will read the roles and
Is everything clear, Group 1?
functions of language in agriculture)
Group 2 is assigned to write a poem about
the disadvantage of poor storing.

Any questions, Group 2?

Group 3, you are assigned to perform a 2-

minute skit about the effects of poor
postharvesting.

Is the instruction clear, Group 3?

So, your presentation will be graded through

a set of criteria. You will be graded by:

Relevance – 25%

Professionalism - 25%

Clarity – 25%

Neatness -25%

With a total of 100%

Are the instructions clear and the criteria for

grading, class?

To execute your task, I will be giving you 10

minutes to finalize your presentations. Is
everything alright?

I am so stoked right now. Can’t wait see your

work! Your 10 minutes starts now.

(After 10 minutes)

Your 10 minutes is over, class. You can now Yes, Sir!

go back to your seats.

Have you finished your presentations, class?

Clear!
Nice! Now, let’s hear the piece of Group 1.
Crystal!
(After the presentation)

What a beautiful voice they have! I was so

impressed by your piece, Group 1. Let’s give
them a round of applause.

The stage is yours, Group 2.

(After the presentation)

(Students will have their group
Magnifique! That piece that you just activity)
performed was really something else. A
potential poet, I can say. Let’s give a round of
applause for Group 2.

Last but not the least, show your best, Group

3.

(After the presentation)

That was an astounding performance, Group

3. I loved the acting and the approach, which
was so very realistic and professional! Let’s (G1) Yes, Sir!
give a round of applause for Group 3.

Now, sit properly.

Class, I’m beyond happy for your solid

participation. You showed all your unique
potentials in your own fortes. That’s the
beauty of this activity. And because of that, (G2) None, Sir!
I’m going to give you a perfect score for your
amazing performances. Not just that. You
will be getting rewards as my gesture of
appreciation for creating an energetic
atmosphere today.

V. Evaluation
(G3) Yes, Sir!
Class, to know if you really understand our
today’s lesson, we’ll be having a 10-item
quiz. Kindly get a ¼ sheet of paper.
Are you all ready?

The questions will be displayed on the

screen. Please answer silently.

1. It is the rapid removal of the field heat to

the commodity.

2-3. Give at least 2 reasons why postharvest

should be done.

4. It is the stage of crop production

immediately following harvest, including
cooling, cleaning, sorting and packing.

5. The main reason for this step is for the

appearance of the commodity that will be Yes, Sir!
attractive to the consumer.

6-15. For 10 points, what are the procedures

in postharvesting?

(After 10 minutes)
Yes, Sir!
Are you all through, class?

If so, we can now check your answers.

Exchange paper with your seatmate, so we
can now start.

Answer key:

1.Pre-cooling

2-3 Rapid deterioration can occur and can

affect the quality of vegetable/fruits

4. Postharvest Handling
Yes, Sir.
5. Packaging

6-15. harvest - reception – precooling -

selection, cleaning, and disinfection – drying
– grading - other treatments - packing and
packaging – storage - transport
Yes, Sir.
 Yes, Sir!

VI. ASSIGNMENT

Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity

I’m very glad to know that you all

understand well our today’s lesson.

To end our meeting, kindly research on

THE STORAGE PEST AND DISEASES.
Write your answer in a 1 whole sheet of
paper.

That’s all for today. See you all again

next meeting!

Class dismissed. See you all next

meeting, class!

Thank you and goodbye, Sir!

Prepared by:
Jeen Noel R. Alvarez
BSED III - English