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H.A.B. Parpia
It is with this objective in mind that the UN University has supported the
organization of interface workshops. It is hoped that the present workshop on the
interfaces between agriculture. nutrition, and food science will provide an
opportunity for better understanding of the whole system in greater depth and in
relation to actual problems, so that more meaningful multidisciplinary solutions
The world population, which at present stands at about 4,300 million, is expected
to reach a figure of well over 6,000 million by the year 2000 (FAO 1979).
Agricultural production has barely kept pace even with the present need. The
requirement of food, even to meet minimum need, will be nearly twice the
present production level by the turn of the century and the challenges for the
next century would become much greater. Food losses continue to be high and
take away from mankind a substantial amount of what is produced with a great
deal of inputs and human effort. The consequent qualitative deterioration of
food, resulting from infestation by rodents, insects, and micro-organisms, adds to
the problem of malnutrition. Prevention of these losses would increase and
improve food supplies without additional demand on land, and raise nutritional
standards.
When one considers the available potential, there is a great deal of hope for
improving the situation. It is unfortunate that such negative aspects as the
limitation of resources, population growth, and environment have received
greater publicity than the positive aspects. To exploit fully the resources
available. there is an urgent need for both the political will and the provision of
financial resources to build scientific capabilities. The data in table 1 show that
there is considerable potential for better land utilization.
Region
Arable as
% of total
Cultivated as
% of arable Cultivated as
% of total
% of total
Arable plus
6.5
46.50 49.02
8.1
Asia
46.35 49.60
17.9
13.06 17.34
Frontier countries (North and South America, USSR, Australia, and New Zealand)
6.88 7.75 82.85 82.96 5.7
6.4
34.27 38.59
Europe
27.9
45.63 46.10
All regions
9.9
37.35 41.07
Country
Level of fertilizer consumption
Country
Afghanistan
5
Ghana
2
Bolivia
3
Hungary
216
Brazil
49
India
17
Canada
27
Iran
03
Costa Rica
130
Kenya
26
Equador
13
Netherlands
740
France
655
Republic of Korea
317
Operation
Harvesting
1-3
Handling
2-7
Threshing
2-6
Drying
1-5
Storing
2-6
Milling2-10
Total 10-37
Source: De Padua. 1975.
Region
Crop Loss
Sorghum
46
Cow-pea
41
United Statesc
Stored grain
Packed food
US$ 150
All crops
US$3.500
US$ 500
25
Storage loss 15
Handling and processing loss
Other losses 3
Federal Republic of Germanye
Harvested grain
Sierra Leonef
41
Maize
Rice
DM 77.4
14
Tropical Africag
All crops:
30
TABLE 5. Mean Growth Rate and Protein Efficiency Ratio of Rats Fed on Wheat
and Bengal Gram Dhal (dehusked split chick-peas) with and without Infestation
(duration of experiment: four weeks; 10 female rats per group: protein level10
per cent)
Group Initial
41.0
389
187
2.09
II Wheat (infested) 41 0
30.5
19.9
1.53
1.36
1.86
54.0
21.8
2.48
2.21
44.8
21 5
2.08
1.85
41.0
61.3
41.0
49.8
41.0
76.9
22.8
2.27
41.0
3.00
+ 1.32
+ 0.07
Groups:
II
IV
VI
VII
PER
2.08
2.09
2.44
2.48
2.86
3.37
1.53
Note: All means underscored by the same line are not significantly different. All
means not underscored by the same line are significantly different.
Moisture
Correlation coefficient
Free fatty acid
Fungi 0.170
0.202
0.339
0.129
0.234
0.317
0.069
0.549
0.127
Kernel damage
0.489
Insect
Mould
Mites
Uric acid
Moisture
Moisture
Exuvae
Discoloration
Foul odour
Allergans
Chitin Mycotoxins
Dead insectsThermogenesis
Frass Musty odour Debris
Killed germ Loss of viability
Pathogen vector
Microflora
The expected world production of cereals by 1985 will be about 1,500 million
tons; even a 10 per cent loss would amount to 150 million tons. In monetary
terms, taking a modest price of US$200/ton, this would amount to US$30,000
million. Similar or even greater losses occur per ton of grain legumes, which are
the main source of protein in many developing countries, and are crops of higher
economic value. This shows that an increase in research, development and
technology transfer activities in the postharvest field would be more than
justified even if half the losses could be prevented. Success would contribute to
raising incomes and producing alternative employment in agro-industries,
improvement of nutritional levels, increased use of inputs to raise agricultural
production, and substantial saving on much-needed foreign exchange. This will
have a substantial impact on poverty reduction which would contribute to
reduction of hunger.
It is often forgotten that very few agricultural commodities become food without
some sort of processing and, in the process, they generate a great deal of
employment. Today, about US$30.000 million worth of agricultural commodities
are exported by the developing countries out of which the importing countries
make products worth US$240,000 million. This picture must change if trade
balance is to be improved.
Another way to increase food supplies is to lay stress on greater use of primary
foods. In terms of total availability of primary foods, the world produces three
times its requirements. It is the consumption pattern, especially in the affluent
countries, that distorts this picture, when huge amounts of basic foods are
converted into secondary animal foods. Table 8 gives a picture of how food
consumption patterns contribute to the food problem (Borgstrom 1974).
Consumers of a large amount of animal food have faced many serious health
problems such as atherosclerosis and diverticular diseases. It is estimated that in
countries like Canada and the United States, the annual cereal consumption per
capita is 1,000 kilograms, of which barely 70 are consumed directly. The 374
million tons of cereals used by them in 1969-1971 would have sufficed to feed
the entire population of India and China put together.
I Total calories
(II + III)
II Plant calories
(II + IV)
Unites States
763
2,634
1,310
11,886
9,252
5,523 7,729
Mexico
Difference
381
2,051 4,372
3,357
Many other types of post-harvest losses occur during the milling of rice, wheat,
and grain legumes, and in the storage, handling, and processing of perishable
foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish. Inadequate utilization of oilseed
proteins for human consumption also represents a major loss. Hopefully these
problems will be discussed in this Workshop.
Conclusion
References
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Prospects. Norton, N. Y.
FAO. 1964. Informal Work Bulletin. No. 24. FAO, Rome. . 1974. Fertilizer Review.
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____. 1979. Agriculture: Towards 2000. Twentieth Session of the Conference, Nov.
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Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi.
Metcalf, R.L. 1962. Destructive and Useful Insects, pp. 41 43. McGraw-Hill, New
York, N. Y.
Parpia, H.A.B. 1979. Willwood Lectures. Institute of Food Science and Technology,
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Pimentel, D.; L.E. Hurd; A.C. Bellotti; M.J. Forster; I.N. Oka; O.D. Sholes, and R.J.
Whitman.
1973. "Food Production and the Energy Crisis." Science, 182 (4111): 443 449.
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UNU. 1981. Medium Term Perspective 1982/87 United Nations University, Tokyo.
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