Physical and quality losses in turn lead to loss of market value, concerns about food safety, and lower incomes for growers.
While researchers have identified many potentially useful postharvest technologies for use in developing countries, there is a lack of information regarding the costs and financial benefits of these postharvest technologies, since costs are rarely documented during research studies. Generally the adaptive research step between gathering laboratory findings and extension of the results is missing or local costs are simply not considered when investigating the technology and its field applications. Technically useful practices therefore tend to be disregarded since there is no information on costs or their potential financial returns in different developing regions.