Postharvest handling, transport and quality of sweet potato in Tanzania

Commercial consignments of sacks of sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam, cvs. Polista and SPN/0, were surveyed, over two seasons, from harvest to ma rkets at Mwanza and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The handling and transport s ystem resulted in up to 20% and 86% of roots with severe breaks and skinnin g injury respectively. Reductions in market value were up to 13%. impact lo ggers located at the centre of sacks indicated that the most severe impacts (greater than 20 g) occurred during unloading and loading from road vehicl es and ships. However; skinning injury and broken roots were correlated wit h a large number of minor impacts (2 g or lower). Cultivar or season did no t generally affect the responses. The use of cardboard boxes filled with fe wer roots instead of overfilled polypropylene sacks and adoption of improve d management procedures in the handling and transport are recommended.