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Abstracto

Effectiveness and availability of packaging materials for fruits and vegetables: A case study of Ido local government, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Aremu D. O., Ogunlowo Q. O., Azeez A. A., Babajide N. A. and Ogunlade C. A.

Packaging is a very important post-harvest operation that determines the longevity of farm produce. Packaging materials contribute a significant cost to food producing industry. The objectives of the study include assessment of packaging materials for fruits and vegetables and evaluation of the effectiveness of the packaging materials. A case study of Ido local government, one of the 33 local governments in Oyo state with 986km square area and a population of 103,261 was carried out. Data were collected for this study with the aid of well structured questionnaire. The targeted population for this study were fruits and vegetable sellers in the local government area. Simple random techniques were used to select fifty respondents from the study area where the questionnaire is been administered. Both descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyze the data obtained in this study. The statistical tools used in the analysis include SPSS, frequency tables, cross tabulation and chi-square. The results showed that females are mostly involved in the selling of fruits and vegetables, 42% respondents uses basket, 42% uses Asian sack and 16% uses jute bag as packaging material for their fruits and vegetables. The study also shows that basket, jute bag, and asian sack are very effective and readily available and can be used for the packaging of fruits and vegetables in Ido local government.