Reducing Postharvest Losses
In the OIC Member Countries
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grain and the rate of increase in grain moisture content could all be used as valid criteria for
rapid assessment of the grade of damage in stored grain (Omar and Kamel, 1984). However, no
further publications can be located on whether these findings were then used to provide rapid
estimates of the storage losses of cereal grain in Egyptian warehouses. A 1984 study by El-
Lakwah identified rodents, insects7 and birds were the main causes of postharvest loss at
farmer level in Egypt. Rodents alone were found to cause annual weight losses of 4-10% of
stored grains, with 10-26% of bags being damaged (El-Lakwah, 1984). Very limited data on
losses incurred in the open-air flat storage sites ( shounas ) is available and inventory control is
based on counting of the bags without regard to quality or quantity changes (El-Lakwah,
1995). One 1993/4 study found losses varied between shounas, generally ranging from 2-
12.4%, with the insect Trogoderma granarium attack on wheat and rodents causing high losses
(El-Lakwah & Laborius, 1995). The wheat storage period is typically between 4-8 months.
Handling and transport losses were ~0.21% on shounas. Storage losses of cereal grains in the
Lakyubia region were 0.03-0.77% and for pulses, 1.41-2.81% in 1989/91 (El-Lakwah et al.,
1993). Later stored product entomological research included laboratory work on the role of
botanicals, such as Neemazal (a 10% neem powder) in protecting stored grain against insect
damage (El-Lakwah and El-Kashlan, 1999), and studies assessing whether differential
resistance of sorghum varieties to attack during storage by the angoumois grain moth,
Sitotroga cerealella could be incorporated into effective stored pest management (Hassan et
al., 2014). Laboratory studies on stored product pest management occur, but very few large
scale applied studies follow (El-Lakwah, 1995). The few studies that have looked at aflatoxin
contamination of food products have found that a high proportion of cereal grains (maize,
wheat and rice) and groundnuts in Egyptian markets contained aflatoxins B1 or G1 at levels
well beyond the WHO and FDA safe limit for human consumption (El-Shanshoury et al., 2014).
Unfortunately the African Postharvest Losses Information Systems does not cover
North Africa and therefore cereal postharvest loss estimates equivalent to those available for
Sub-Saharan Africa do not exist. However, in a recent global food loss and waste assessment,
the ‘North Africa, West and Central Asia’ group of countries which includes Egypt were
calculated to have a per capita food loss of 180 kg/year during the production to retailing
stages, and a 30 kg/year per capita food waste by consumers figure (Gustavsson et al., 2011).
This same study calculated the part of the initial cereal production lost or wasted at different
food supply chain stages. For North Africa, West and Central Asia, 31% of cereal production
was wasted; 6% loss during production, 8% loss during postharvest handling and storage, 4%
loss during processing, 3.4% loss during distribution, and 9.5% wasted at consumer level.
Given the relative absence of published studies on cereal postharvest losses in Egypt, no data
exists on their overall scale or cost to the country’s economy. Thus to estimate what a 10-30%
postharvest loss would hypothetically mean in terms of grain quantity and value Table 43 has
been created.
7 Main insect pests of stored cereal grains in Egypt: Sitophilus spp., Rhyzopertha dominica, Trogoderman granarium,
Tribolium sp., Sitotroga cerealella, Corcyra cephalonica, Oryzaephilus surinamensis. Rodent species causing stored product
damage are: field rat, Norway rat, Black rat, Alexandrius rat, Roof rat, Spiny mouse, House mouse. Birds such as sparrows
became a serious pest following the reduction in the population of birds of prey, pigeons also feed on the grain during
threshing and storage.