Postharvest Extension and Capacity Building for the Developing World

This book provides information on postharvest extension/outreach programs, capacity building and practical methodologies for postharvest extension professionals and food science teachers, food processing trainers and outreach specialists who work in the field. The book provides information on training of postharvest trainers, food loss assessment methods, capacity building in universities and agro-industry, distance education methods, models for cost effective postharvest/food processing extension work, success stories and lessons learned from past projects and programs. Chapters will cover postharvest extension work and capacity building in a wide range of regions.

Dr. Majeed Mohammed is a Postharvest Physiologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies for the past 30 years. After completion of his B.Sc. in Agriculture from the UWI in 1977, he completed his MSc. and Ph.D. in Postharvest Physiology at the University of Guelph (1984) and The University of the West Indies (1992). He is currently a Board Director with the Postharvest Education Foundation as well as a member of the UN/FAO Panel of Experts from Latin America and the Caribbean on the Prevention and Reduction of Food Losses and Waste.

Vijay Yadav Tokala is pursuing his PhD in Postharvest Horticulture at Curtin University, Western Australia and studying the effect of novel ethylene antagonists to increase the storage life of fruits under different storage environments. He won prestigious International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS)-2016 and Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) to pursue his PhD. He is also voluntarily serving as Board of Director for 'The Postharvest Education Foundation', a non-profit organization committed to reducing global postharvest losses.

He did his graduation with Horticulture as specialization, being a college topper from Dr Y.S.R. Horticultural University, India. His postgraduate research emphasized on fruit and vegetable processing and awarded 'University Gold Medal' for being university topper in S.K. Rajasthan Agricultural University, India. He has worked as Horticulture Officer in the Government of Andhra Pradesh (India) with the roles of field consultant and extension officer in both rural and urban areas, with main job objective to enhance quality horticulture production and encourage farmers towards safe postharvest handling and processing.