Need for post-harvest facilities cited

MANILA, Philippines –  When it comes to scientific and modern me-thods of rice production, the Philippines serves as the educational center for all of Asia and perhaps of the rest of the world.         

It wasn’t too long ago when the Philippines was exporting rice to other nations.

Yet today, the Philippines finds itself importing the cereal from Indonesia, Thailand, China and Vietnam and spending hundreds of millions of precious dollars each year which go into the pockets of foreign farmers.  

World statistics show that of the world’s total harvest of rice, only four percent is being traded. This means that a slight decrease in the world’s cereal production – even by just five percent – will drive the price of rice even higher, thereby adversely affecting many countries including the Philippines.

Much of the country’s shortfall in rice supply can be attributed to lack of post-harvest facilities which could have prevented hundreds of thousands of metric tons of harvested palay from rotting and going to waste.

Former Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra former chairman of the House committee on agriculture, said “instead of using our dollars to buy rice grown by foreigners, why not use a fraction of it for post-harvest infrastructure and know-how so we can conserve the rice we have already produced?”

He said the Philippines loses a staggering P32.87 billion worth of rice every year due to lack of post-harvest facilities.

Jesus Tanchanco, former administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA), said the major challenges that confront the rice industry today and in the coming years would include solving problems associated with post-production.

He said production gains must be complemen-ted with adequate warehousing, handling, transport and pest-control systems that would guarantee minimum losses for harvested grain.

Researchers have quantified the annual post-production losses and wastage in these areas: harvesting, one to six percent; handling, two to seven percent; drying, one to five percent; milling, two to 10 percent; and storage, two to six percent. In total, some 10 to 37 percent of the annual harvest is lost during processing.

To reduce these huge losses, he said, the solutions seem to lie in improving  the grains post-harvest processes. These are storage, milling, handling, threshing and drying.

“Improved threshing and drying methods are essential to increase milling recovery. These are primary technology that will have a great bearing on the general improvement of the grains industry,” Tanchanco said.

He said funds must also be channeled for the purchase of post-harvest machines and equipment on the farmer and farmer-cooperative levels. Such an effort, he said, “would disseminate the modern methods of farm mechanization and promote the cooperative movement at the same time.