Tanzania: Avocado commercial fruit quality collective training

The Fit for Market Plus programme recently held a collective training session in Njombe, from 21^st-24^th March 2023, on “Avocado Commercial Fruit Quality: Good Harvest and Post-Harvest Practices.”

This training aimed to enhance the capacity of twenty-three technical and extension staff, and agronomists responsible for avocado quality control in different exporting companies in Tanzania. The training covered avocado characteristics, nursery establishment, avocado maturity testing, harvesting, transport, packhouse operations, market requirements, and other relevant topics during two sessions: theoretical and practical.

The training was organized in two session theory and practical session. Participants also visited both large-scale and small-scale avocado orchards, as well as an operating packhouse, to gain practical experience and understand different management practices. The training provided hands-on experience in nursery establishment, orchard management, avocado maturity determination, harvesting techniques, and post-harvest handling in both the field and packhouse settings. All participants had the opportunity to determine avocado maturity tests under expert guidance.

This activity is supported by the Fit For Market+ programme, implemented by COLEAD within the Framework of Development Cooperation between the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union.