[Agricultural products handling: methods of feasibility evaluation]

Post-harvest problems are important constraints to the expansion of production of food in many Latin American countries. Besides problems of bulkiness, perishability and seasonal production patterns, the necessity of reducing transportation costs, increasing rural employment, and finding new markets for processed products, requires the development of processing technologies. Possible processed products include a vast range of alternatives. Given limited time and resources, it is not always feasible to carry out detailed studies. Hence a practical, low-cost methodology is needed to evaluate the available options. This paper presents a series of methods to evaluate different processing possibilities. It describes in detail each method including a rapid initial assessment, market and consumer research, farm-oriented research, costs and returns analysis and finally, some marketing and promotion strategies.