Post-harvest technologies and protocols reduce persimmon losses by more than 70%

The adoption of technologies and technical recommendations from Embrapa caused losses in persimmon production on a farm to fall by almost 72%, dropping from the historical average of 16% to 4,5%, achieved in 2019. The high loss rates at Suynan Farm , in the Serra Fluminense region, had been registered since the 1940s and almost made the producer abandon the activity. After adopting a careful method of selecting and treating fruits, packaging that was more suitable for protecting the product and even modernizing facilities to adapt to packaging work, standardized fruits were obtained, with more added value and a longer shelf life. useful.

As a result, Suynan increased its sales by more than 120%, as the fruits became more valued by customers. With the delivery of high quality persimmons, new markets emerged. “Even with the expansion of production by another ten hectares, I still cannot meet the high demand from other locations in the country. I need to innovate even more”, says businessman Roberto Lopes, owner of the farm located in the municipality of São José do Vale do Rio Preto (RJ).

The turning point in the Suynan Farm business occurred with the adoption of new technologies and pre- and post-harvest protocols recommended by the post-harvest team at Suynan. Embrapa Food Agroindustry (RJ). From 2015, with the submission of a project to a notice from the Rio de Janeiro State Research Support Foundation (faperj), it was possible to acquire new equipment that was more suitable for cleaning, brushing, selecting and classifying persimmons. The machine classifies the fruits by size and shape. Next, operators and production assistants manually separate them by color and stage of maturation. This process made it possible to obtain a standardized product, with better appearance and greater added value.

Then, upon recommendation from the Embrapa team, a new packing house was built on the property and employees – now in greater numbers – were trained to properly handle the fruit in all stages of production, from the field. A new packaging was also recommended, made of double-layer cardboard, which increases the useful life of the fruit, replacing wooden boxes, which generate more than 20% of product losses, according to studies carried out by Embrapa and the Federal Rural University of Rio Grande do Sul. Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ).

Currently, six-kilogram cardboard boxes represent around 95% of the farm's sales, preserving the quality of the fruits that go to market. The use of 20 kg wooden boxes was drastically reduced, being used only for very small fruits with little commercial value.

The beginning

Five years ago, Lopes approached Embrapa through the Citizen Assistance Service (SAC) in search of a technological solution for his persimmon plantation. Increased competition, tight profit margins, low fruit quality and production losses were leading many producers in the state of Rio de Janeiro to abandon the business. The established partnership contributed to reducing operating costs and adding value to the persimmon sold, which resulted in an increase in profitability, which has more than doubled in recent years, even during a period of economic crisis.

“We provide guidance on technologies and pass on technical protocols appropriate to the producer's reality, from planting, adopting appropriate cultural practices and harvesting to the selection and classification of fruits, aiming to reduce losses. This could be expanded to the entire national chain”, says the Embrapa researcher Murillo Freire.

Before contacting Embrapa, Lopes was about to end persimmon production, a family activity that had been going on for many decades. “The support I received was fundamental. Today I have a business thanks to Embrapa, which helped me move from loss to profit. It is necessary to recognize the technical competence (know-how) installed there”, emphasizes the entrepreneur.

work continues

Embrapa researchers and the Suynan Farm team are now moving on to new challenges: “We are going to research a safer, more homogeneous and controlled way to remove astringency (“cica”), commonly called the destanization process, and to ripen technically appropriate”, says the Embrapa researcher Antonio Gomes. From 2020 onwards, post-harvest scientists will study the sizing and equalization of this process carried out in hermetic ethylene gas chambers.

The businessman also plans to implement a refrigerated system to enable the transport of persimmons to locations further away from production, such as the states of Pernambuco and Ceará, where there is already demand for the product. “We observed that technology requires technology. When rural producers adopt a new technology in their production process, such as more modern equipment or more appropriate packaging, this demands new technologies or even new management and logistics processes and leads to a virtuous cycle of business improvement and expansion.” , evaluate Marcos Fonseca, researcher at Embrapa Agroindústria de Alimentos.

For the scientist, the case of Fazenda Suynan indicates that the technological solutions developed by Embrapa can have a major impact on the persimmon production chain, mainly related to the reduction of losses and the increase in value of the fruit on the market. “The costs related to research, development and adaptation of technologies spent with the Embrapa team for the production of persimmons at Suynan in recent years generated a return on investment of more than 50% with the value of the fruit at R$0,89 per kilo, in addition to the percentage reduction in losses from 16% to 4,5%, according to the economic surplus method”, reveals the researcher in the Socioeconomics area at Embrapa Andrew Cribb.

Observing only the socio-environmental index obtained by the Ambitec-Agro methodology, established by Embrapa, and extrapolating to the persimmon production chain in Brazil, around 20 tons of the fruit would no longer be lost annually in the country, generating more income for the producer and less environmental impact.

Anatomical packaging for persimmons

Another innovation that can be implemented by Faze Suynan is the adoption of an anatomical packaging for persimmons, developed by Embrapa Agroindústria de Alimentos, National Institute of Technology (INT) and Institute of Macromolecules (IMA) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

The new packaging generates less mechanical damage (impacts, friction, compressions), better physical appearance and increases the shelf life of the fruits, reducing post-harvest losses. “Studies carried out proved that the anatomical packaging extended the shelf life of persimmons by between four and six days compared to the wooden box; and between two and three days compared to a cardboard box. Consumer preference for persimmons transported in the new packaging was also observed”, says Embrapa researcher Marcos Fonseca, who guided and monitored the study of the new packaging for transporting and marketing persimmons, conducted by Maristella Martineli, from the Postgraduate Program in Food Science from UFRJ.

Packaging for storing fruits such as persimmon, mango and papaya received recognition in 2019 with the winning an international award awarded by DOW Agroquímica in two categories: “Diamond Awards Finalist"and "Collaboration Honorable Mention”. The award recognizes innovations in packaging design, materials, technology and processes across the entire value chain. Currently, Embrapa is looking for partners to place the packaging on the market. Watch the video about the technology here.