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PHL in the News
April 24, 2012 Update
The following items have appeared recently in newspapers, blogs, on websites and other media regarding PHL and might be of interest to affiliates of the ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss.
Africa
- Israel and the United States have pledged to expand agricultural cooperation in Africa, focusing on Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Both Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation and USAID will be working on reducing PHL, irrigation issues, productivity, and applying R&D results.
South Asia
- The FAO is working with the Indian Agriculture Department to improve productivity of oilseeds and pulses in Andhra Pradesh. This will consist of a training program tailored to the particular climatic conditions and needs of the region. The FAO will assist in capacity building for staff, especially for efficient water use technologies and the effect of climate change on agriculture, and upgrading the knowledge base on current important agricultural issues.
- The Centre for Advanced Research Sciences of Dhaka University has developed a new grain storage technology by using ultra superheated steam (USST). Rice, wheat, broken maize, mixed animal feed and chickpea can now be stored 11 months to two years by using the new technology.
- The Indian food ministry is setting up more modern grain silos in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana. The government currently has about 64 million tonnes of storage space, of which 20-25 million tonnes are temporary. The rush to add more grain storage facilities is in response to a 10 million tonne increase in this year's harvest over last year.
Central Asia
- Rail wagons have proved to be a severely limiting factor for Kazakhstani farmers. The country is facing a dilemma as it has been unable to export its grain and has cut the amount of exports from 15 million tonnes to 11-12 million tonnes. Kazakhstan had a record harvest last year of 27 million tonnes but uses only about 11 million tonnes domestically. "Delays in sourcing rail cars" proved to be the main issue preventing the country from exporting its excess grain and now the government is investigating elevator construction, subsidizing exports, and rail expansion to nearby China as potential solutions to the problem.
North America
- The CEO of Intelleflex will present as part of a panel at the U.S. State Department's Global Impact Economy Forum on reducing inefficiencies in the food value chain on April 26 in Washington, D.C. The panel will discuss "how a combination of technical assistance, grants, investment and technology backed by innovative business models is required to develop sustainable agricultural supply chains and reduce inefficiencies in the food value chain." Intelleflex will highlight cases of organizations that use RFID technology to minimize potential PHL.
Conferences and Symposiums
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Project
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) seeks to establish levels of PHL in market access focus crops along the value chain and is accepting project proposals until May 3, 2012 (PDF).
Publications
Materials on PHL presented at the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers and International Symposium on Grain Storage (supported by the ADM Institute for the Prevention of PHL at the University of Illinois) are now available online.
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