Asian food losses

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 41

Asian food losses

NZPA-Reuter Singapore Much of the food harvested in South-east Asia each year is lost to rats and insects or goes mouldy before it reaches hungry city dwellers, said agricultural scientists in Singapore. In the last decade, the introduction of hardier rice and other grains, fertilisers and better irrigation had dramatically raised food production in the region and turned former food importing nations like Indonesia into exporters. But alongside increased yields, losses from postharvest handling had been

rising, they said. The Philippines alone is estimated to be losing as much as 35 per cent of its yearly rice output. The agricultural scientists, meeting in Singapore at a seminar on the subject, said crops were not being dried quickly enough after the harvest

Mould quickly set in, attracting insects like the com weevil. A Philippines crop researcher, Mr Rolando Tiongson, said in six months the weevils could eat or damage 70 per cent of stored com.

Mr Tiongson said he found very few food

traders in the Philippines used pest control to stop insects jumping from one crop to another through old sacks and containers. Other scientists reported similar problems- in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia. Throughout many parts of rural South-east Asia crops are harvested slowly by labour gangs armed with sickles, then grains are dried in the sun by the roadside or in village squares. But heavy tropical downpours thwart their efforts. If crops are not dried quickly they start to perish in just four days. The scientists suggest more use of simple mechanical reapers, threshers and driers, but their ideas meet opposition. “Technology is available for the immediate and efficient processing of rice to arrest these losses, but still farmers are hesitant in adopting these methods," said Mr Raul Paz, a research assistant in the Philippines. Many farmers find it extremely difficult to cope with new technology, others do not realise they can increase their income, some simply cannot afford new machines and many prefer to employ family, friends and relatives at harvest time, the scientists said.