Reducing On-Farm Food Losses
In the OIC Member Countries
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Affognon et al (2014) reviewed more than 130 published documents on postharvest losses in
Africa (including Benin and Mozambique), and reported their summary findings on maximum
losses for maize at 25.5%, +/- 15.3 losses in 66 documents and rice at 25.6% +/- 27.4 losses in
four documents. Comparisons of reported losses in cases where interventions were made to
reduce losses via improved handling and storage showed approximately 50% lower losses.
AfricaRice reported in Cameroon that shattering losses double from 2.75% to 5.46%when grain
moisture at harvest drops from 20% to 15% after a period of 3.5 days. Field stacking losses were
8.72% and 8.36% for harvesting at 20% and 15% grain moisture, respectively (Ndindeng et al
2015). In Mali, losses for cereals were reported by AGRA (2013) to be 20-30% for maize; 10-
15% for rice; and 2-15% for sorghum, while in Mozambique, they were reported to be 18.4%
for maize; 11.2% for rice; 12.6% for sorghum and 11.1% for millet. Harvest losses in Sierra
Leone for rice were reported to be 5% (FAO 2009).
In Nigeria, losses for maize were reported by AGRA (2013) to be 20% and an in-country
evaluation of Nigeria’s commodity storage andmanagement infrastructure by Ileleji et al. (2009)
concluded that despite having up to 1.3million tonnes of modern bulk storage capacity andmore
than 48 warehouse structures for its Strategic Grain Reserves program (SGR), unsatisfactory
management of stored grain by staff at these facilities resulted in huge post-harvest losses (up
to 50% in some cases). Losses incurred were primarily due to the lack of adequate knowledge
and implementation of sound stored grain management practices, making this system hugely
inefficient. Huge physical and quality losses, estimated at 15-30%, were also incurred along the
value chain in on-farm and in private sector warehouse.
In Uganda, harvesting losses for maize was due to careless harvesting, which resulted in spillage.
Mean losses were 4%of the farmers’ potential harvest. At farmer storage level, mean losses were
at 20% after 3 months of maize grain storage. The mean percentage loss causative factors
included: 16.4% insect damage on grain, breakage accounted for 1.0% loss, discoloration was
also found at 2.6% levels in and foreign matter at 1.9%. Results showed 40% of the samples
evaluated were positive with Aflatoxin B1 (Muyinza et al 2015).
The estimated total post-harvest loss of on-farm paddy rice in Bangladesh is 14%, a figure that
includes harvesting (1.06–6.5%), handling and transport (0.63–6.0%), threshing (1.65–2.0%),
drying (1.56–5%) and storage (3.05–7.5%) for a total of 27% (Bala et al., 2010). A recent study
in Iran (Asadi et al. 2010), estimated maize waste at the harvesting stage at 0.5-2%.
Losses of wheat in Tajikistan were reported to be 4.3% at production; 1.3% at postharvest and
storage; 1.8% at processing and packaging; 2.2% at distribution; and 1.6% at marketing for a
total of approximately 11% (Nabieva 2015).
FAO sponsored studies in Turkey reported that wheat losses during production and harvesting
were 5.1% due to poor quality seeds (saved seeds from prior harvest), unsuitable varieties, lack