1st Edition

Postharvest Losses, Technology, And Employment The Case Of Rice In Bangladesh

By Martin Greeley Copyright 1988
    345 Pages
    by CRC Press

    364 Pages
    by CRC Press

    This book presents a Bangladesh case study of the farm-level postharvest system. There are two main objectives. First, to use measured estimates of food loss to test (and reject) the conventional assumptions: that postharvest farm-level food losses are large; that they can be prevented cost-effectively by technical change; and that as a consequence, there will be more food consumption by hungry people. Commonly, none of these assumptions are true and the evidence from Bangladesh, plus supporting evidence from elsewhere, is used to show why they are wrong.

    List of Tables and Figures -- Acknowledgments -- CHAPTER ONE Outline of the Study -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Chapter Outline -- CHAPTER TWO The Postharvest System and World Hunger: The Debate on Neglect and the Neglects of the Debate -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The Debate on Neglect -- 2.3 The Evidence on Food Losses -- 2.4 Attitude-Forming Influences on the Debate on Losses -- 2.5 The Neglects of the Debate -- 2.6 The Cost and Benefits of Loss- Reducing Technical Change -- Notes -- CHAPTER THREE Rice in Bangladesh: The Farm-Level Postharvest System -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 What Are We Trying to Measure? -- 3.3 Cropping Patterns and Postharvest Operations -- 3.4 Postharvest Technical Change and Planned Rural Development: An Overview -- 3.5 A Review of the Farm-Level Postharvest Literature -- 3.6 Product, Capital and Labour Use -- Notes -- CHAPTER FOUR Bangladesh Farm-Level Food Losses: Evidence Against the High Loss Lobby -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 The Bangladesh Postharvest Project: Objectives and Areas of Study -- 4.3 Grouping Operations by Loss Assessment Method: Different Causes Require Different Methods -- 4.4 Crop Drying as a Special Case? -- 4.5 The Problems of Developing Accurate Applied Methods -- 4.6 Estimated Food Losses and Economic Implications -- 4.7 Seasons, Regions, Farm Size and Varieties -- 4.8 Wet Season Losses -- 4.9 The Mycotoxin Problem -- 4.10 Conclusions and Implications for Future Research -- 4.11 Supporting Evidence from Other Studies -- Notes -- Appendix 4.1. Rainfall, Temperature and Relative Humidity (RH) Records in the Two Project Field Areas 1979-80 -- Appendix 4.2. Examples of Field Survey Instructions and Forms -- Appendix 4.3. Percentage Size Distribution of Land Owned (Acres) -- CHAPTER FIVE Technical Change I: Pedal Threshing -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Pedal Threshers: Manufacture, Distribution and Use -- 5.3 Pedal Threshers Cause Higher Food Losses -- 5.4 Returns to Pedal Thresher Ownership -- 5.5 Returns to Farms Hiring Pedal Threshers -- 5.6 Returns to Wage Labour -- 5.7 Social Costs and Benefits -- 5.8 Some Conclusions: Pedal Threshers, the Epitome of Appropriateness? -- Notes -- Appendix 5.1. Detailed Estimate of Pedal Thresher Costs 200 -- Appendix 5.2. Distributional Issues and Choice or Threshing Technique -- CHAPTER SIX Technical Change II: Rice Milling -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Traditional Processing: Description, Distribution and Types of Labour Used -- 6.3 Rice Mills: Description,Distribution and Types ofLabour Used -- 6.4 Quantity and Quality of Milled Rice Outturn - a Comparison -- 6.5 The Farm-Level Decision Criteria for Choice of Milling Technique -- 6.6 The Private Profitability of OWning Huller Mills -- 6.7 Social Benefit Cost Analysis: An Outline of the Approach -- 6.8 A Comparison at Market Prices -- 6.9 A Comparison at Efficiency Prices -- 6.10 A Comparison at Social Prices -- 6.11 Sensitivity Analysis -- Notes -- Appendix 6.1. Derivation of Distributional Weights -- Appendix Notes -- CHAPTER SEVEN Policy Implications: Programmes for Rural Women -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 The Gender Division of Labour -- 7.3 Peasant Differentiation and Its Effect on Female Work -- 7.4 Implications for Women's Programmes -- List of Acronyms -- Glossary of Local Terms -- References -- Index.

    Biography

    Martin Greeley