Packaging Criteria In Agriculture
In today’s world, the packaging of agricultural products is becoming increasingly important. As we strive to meet the growing demands of a global population, it’s crucial that we find ways to preserve and protect agricultural goods in transit from farm to market. This is especially true for developing countries like Nigeria where agriculture is a key industry.
What Is Packaging
Packaging is the science, art, and technology of enclosing or safeguarding agricultural products for transport, storage, sales, and use. Putting or distributing agricultural goods into boxes, bags, baskets, etc. to prepare it for storage, consumption, marketing, or transportation is another way to describe packaging.
Packaging can also be defined as the putting of agricultural products in enclosed material, bags, boxes and baskets for later consumption, storage, and transportation.
Food is packaged when it is encased in a material that will keep it safe during storage, transportation, and distribution.
Prevention of food from getting damaged by impact or crushing, insect or microorganism contamination, or being harmed by moisture, air, or odour. Food spoilage, loss of value, and volume loss due to spills or leaks are all prevented by packaging.
The product that will be packaged needs to be clean and free of anything that could serve as an infection or contamination risk. They ought to be kept in a cool, dry location.
Products are packaged in the proper containers or packaging, such as polythene bags, bags, wrapping paper cases, plastics, blister packets, etc. after sorting, packing, and processing, to help maintain their quality and prevent spoiling.
Packaging Criteria
Some criteria must be taken into account when choosing packaging. These standards consist of:
- Nature Of Produce
- Bulkiness Of The Produce
- Live/Frozen Or Dry Stock
- Distance To Market
- Economy
- Convenience.
Nature Of Produce
The physical characteristics of the produce to be packaged heavily influence the material selected for packaging. For instance, solid produce needs to be packaged with things like cartons, boxes, etc.
On the other hand, if it is liquid, it needs to be packaged in cans, which can be made of metal or plastic.
Bulkiness of the Produce
Bulk refers to the product’s size or quantity. Cereal, cassava, and yam tubers should all come in packaging that is distinct from produce like milk, cheese, fat, and other animal products.
Live, Frozen Or Dry Stock
Whether the product has life, is frozen, or is simply dry in nature affects how it is packaged. Live product packaging must allow for adequate airflow and gas exchange in order to preserve the product’s life. Examples include live chick and live fish being moved from one place to the other.
However, in order to prevent damage, dry products must take perspiration into account rather than living.
Distance to Market
When packing agricultural goods or products, this should be taken into account.
For instance, when moving perishable goods like fresh tomatoes, peppers, and okro from the north to the south, the distance must be taken into account when choosing the packaging material. Also, the produce within a trekable radius might have adifferenmt packaging material as well.
Cost
Although packaging is crucial to marketing, it is also expensive. In some cases, the price of the packaging materials exceeds the price of the contents. This is not recommended because it eventually pushes up the commodity’s market price.
Convenience
Packaging is needed to make goods easy for distributors and customers to handle. A good package should have particular characteristics, such as being simple to open and close, dispose of, recycle, and handle in general.
It must contain the items while preserving their quality without leaking or breaking until they are used.
It must safeguard the food from danger while it is being distributed and stored.
To prevent it from harming the environment, it should be easy to recycle, reuse, or dispose of.
Types of Packaging Item
Agricultural products can be packaged using materials to preserve their quality while being transported, marketed, stored, and consumed, among other things. A few examples are as follows:
Boxes: These can be constructed of fiber or paper. Depending on the kinds of items that will be wrapped, the size may change.
Drums/Barrels: Drums or barrels are typically used to store, transport, or export liquid products such as palm oil. However, they can leak, and the rusting of the metal drums can contaminate the product.
Cages: These are used for transporting or packaging live animals for exhibition, advertising, etc. These animals include, for instance, chickens and rabbits. These cages could be made of wire or wood.
Polythene bags: This material is frequently utilized to package various goods. However, when disposed of, their non-biodegradable waste presents certain problems for the environment.
Trays and crates: These are excellent packing materials for agricultural items like eggs and apple. The shelf life of packaged goods is extended as a result.
Bags/Sacs: Jute or fiber bags are used to package similar agricultural products like animal food and stock fish. Jute bags are also used to package other foods like cowpeas, nuts, and grains.
Cartons: These work well as packaging for agricultural products and can be applied to a variety of goods. Cereal and powdered milk are two examples.
