Beans
Post-harvest management
7.1 Harvesting
- Once the pods lose their green colour, the crop is then considered to be mature
- Harvest when most of the leaves have turned yellow, most of the pods are drying and when drying leaves have turned yellow.
- Use sickle to cut haulms from the base and harvest in the morning when due has just evaporated.
- Do not harvest late when the pods are too dry to avoid loss of beans due to shattering
- Use selective harvesting if the pods have unevenly matured stages in post harvest handling
7.2. Drying
- Dry the beans for about a week before threshing them. Threshing them before they properly die results in damage of the beans.
- Dry ponds on raised platforms, plastics, and mats to avoid in contact with moisture and other impurities
7.3. Threshing
- Threshing should be done when the moisture level is 14-15%, if the pods are too dry the seeds can be easily damaged.
- Thresh the beans manually beating with a stick and then winnow after threshing to remove chaff.
7.4. Grading and sorting
- The seeds should be carefully graded after winnowing to remove dusts, damaged, broken diseased seeds and sort them by variety. This helps to facilitate marketing.
7.5. Storage
- Store well dried bean in a clean or disinfected bag when the moisture is 13-15%.
- Do not mix the newly harvested beans with stocks from previous harvest
- Use Actellic if there is appearance of weevils or if the beans will be stored for a long period.
- Store the bags at least 1 meter away from the wall and on a raised platform
- Store the bags in non-leaking warehouse to avoid contact with moisture