Report from Hussein Yunus Alhassan:
2013 Postharvest Technology Short Course Scholarship Recipient

This was the second year that the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center was able, with thanks to major funding from an endowment created by Leonard and Marseille Morris, to provide a scholarship to the Postharvest Technology Short Course. The goal of the scholarship is to "provide an individual from a developing country the opportunity to learn about managing the postharvest handling of horticultural crops with an intent to take that information back to their home country and utilize it to benefit others in their region."

After an intensive review of the more than fifty applications received, Hussein Yunus Alhassan from Ghana was selected. The following is his report:

The Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops Short Course (PTHSC), 2013 has been the greatest milestone in my study of postharvest technology of horticultural crops.

I therefore wish to take this opportunity to thank the organizers, donors and sponsors of the 2013 PTHSC scholarship award committee, for giving me this singular honor to be part of the 2013 short course. Their efforts and contributions shall not be in vain, for I shall endeavor to use the knowledge gained to improve on my academic and research capacities and thus help improve the technical and academic knowledge of many future post harvest technology students at Tamale Polytechnic as well as the technical knowledge of many rural horticultural farmers within our communities.

The course offered me the opportunity and ability to relate and interact with various personalities and groups of varied socio-cultural, academic and research background as well as a consortium of industry players and thus, enable me have a wider understanding of global technological perspectives of  post harvest technologies of horticultural crops.

The knowledge gained from the lectures, field trips and these interactions has widened my conceptualization and strategic thinking about post harvest technology development. It shall have an impact on:

• Delivery and content of lectures as well as during training sessions
• Improvements in research methodologies for quality determination and enhancement
• Enhanced outreach activities by both students and colleague lecturers to our communities (especially during our community postharvest technology needs assessment).

By and large the 2013 Post Harvest Technology Short Course was a huge success and I do hope to have the chance or opportunity to attend future short courses to be able to build a strong foundation of knowledge of postharvest technology of horticultural crops that will enable me to contribute positively to horticultural agricultural development in my country, Ghana.

In conclusion I wish to state that my whole trip to USA for the course was a real lifetime experience that I shall never forget.

1. My most enjoyable moments were; (i) with my found friends Salesh Kumar, Petro and Christopher, they always made me happy. (ii) The meals that were provided during the first week of the course. (iii) Travelling along the countryside during the second week.     
2. The hardest things for me were following the lectures on fruit ripening, flavor and aroma and post harvest disease management, since they were new areas for me grasp.
3.  My most interesting experience was the demonstrations on fruit quality measurements and food safety regulations. Secondly the visits to the various industries e.g. paramount citrus.
4. Emphatically there was a lot that I have learned that will go a long way in my teaching career e.g. storage, temperature and quality control. It has also given ideas and a lot of information in getting a topic for my Post graduate studies this year.

Hussein Yunus Alhassan
Tamale Polytechnic
Ghana