Quality Management of Citrus Fruits an Approach by Critical Success Factors

Citrus is third most important fruit crop in our country after banana and mango, as the demand for the fruits is also increasing tremendously. The magnitude of postharvest losses in Citrus fruits vary from 25 to 30% in India as against 5-10% in developed citrus growing countries like Brazil, USA, Australia, Spain, Italy and Israel. Hence this study is in itself being useful in identification and analysis of the factors responsible for quality management in post harvest processing of citrus fruits. The study further envisages identification, integration of critical success factors to develop performance improvement frame work [model] for the quality management in post harvest processing and the model will be validated by case studies. Here large number of critical factors is being identified and tabulated after reviewing the literature, which will definitely play important role in the quality management of citrus fruits. These critical factors will be analyzed using different measurement scales. Quality management shall improve shelf life, profitability, productivity, quality and organization of industry of Nagpur mandarin fruits by suggesting new methods and processes. The identified critical factors will be subjected for refinement to derive crucial CSF’s before the ultimate aim of construction of model frame work.