The 3rd All Africa Postharvest Congress and Exhibition (AAPHCE) will have a four-day programme consisting of plenary and breakaway sessions for the various thematic areas. Oral presentations in the breakaway rooms will be complemented by a dedicated interactive poster session where poster authors will ‘pitch’ their research findings. Also, there will be virtual exhibitions by companies, organizations, institutions, and individuals, which will run throughout the congress period. Due to travel and meeting restrictions occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, the congress will be fully virtual event virtual to ensure maximum participation from across Africa and beyond.

All the abstracts (maximum of 500 words) for oral or poster presentation MUST be aligned to any of the following subthemes:

1. 1. Causes, Extent and Impact of food loss and waste – the metrics (data) and tools for FLW
   2. Saving Africa’s harvest during and post COVID-19 Pandemic – lessons learnt, opportunities to strategize for future natural disasters and pandemics.
   3. Innovative technologies, tools, practices and training/capacity building to reduce postharvest losses in food supply
   4. Trade, business and economic transformation opportunities in postharvest
   5. Financing postharvest loss reduction initiatives; Business Cases/Models in postharvest loss reduction; Innovative financing mechanisms for upscaling postharvest
   6. Enabling policies, effective national/regional strategies, experience sharing, Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA).

• • • Abstracts must be clearly linked to the congress theme and subthemes. Indicate to which of the six (6) subthemes the abstract is aligned and the preferred mode of presentation, Oral or Poster.
    • Student/young scientists are especially encouraged to submit abstracts/papers. The best student posters and oral presentations will be recognized and awarded.
    • A template and additional guidelines for abstract preparation can be found on the congress website www.aaphce.com

Submission of abstracts is via the online platform, https:/bit.ly/3cxGlEc . Any enquiries can be sent to postharvest@aaphce.com. Accepted abstracts will be published in the congress book of abstracts and peer-reviewed congress proceedings. Full papers from selected outstanding abstracts will be published in a special issue of the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND). More details about AJFAND can be found on the journal Website www.ajfand.net