CONCLUSIONS OF THE SECTION
‘SYSTEM ANALYSIS IN POST HARVEST’

A presentation of the systems approach for post-harvest operations developed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and GTZ in co-operation with selected partner countries was made. This approach is based on multidisciplinary and participatory work and involves all the different phases of the post-harvest chain (harvest, drying, storage, transportation, marketing, processing and consumption) as well as all actors (e.g. farmers, traders, retailers, processors, consumers, decision makers). The systems approach includes an analytical phase aiming at identifying bottlenecks and priorities for intervention. The implementation of operations should be co-ordinated by a working group made up of representatives of public and private institutions. The FAO and GTZ experience on the systems approach in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia was the first presentation made at the workshop. The results of these studies carried out in these countries brought to light the importance of socio-economic conditions in the development of the post-harvest sector.

The systems approach includes an improvement of national and regional co-ordination and communication system. In order to make the current information available to everyone, FAO and GTZ plan to establish the computer-based Information Network on Post Harvest Operations (INPHO) that will be accessible through CD-ROM or Internet in the near future. We have reasons to believe that the donor community has made concerted efforts in the past few years to co-ordinate post-harvest activities and provide easily accessible information. Examples include a series of workshops with special emphasis on the LGB (e.g. 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996 and 1997) and other post-harvest workshops and conferences like the ones in Bordeaux (1990) and Canberra (1994). Special post-harvest newsletters are edited by GASGA, GTZ/IITA and others. There are still losses in information flow at the local level due to technical constraints like ineffective telephone systems and inefficient distribution of information from local institutions like ministries and research centres. Representatives of the participating countries have been urged to intensify efforts towards the improvement of this last phase in the information system.