Daily Times

Wheat is considered a staple food of many nations including Pakistan and also the cornerstone of food security. Wheat consumption is around 125 kilograms per head per year with a growth rate of 5.42 percent during 2022 and 1.37 percent during 2023 considered one of the highest in the world. During 2022-23, despite investment in R&D, satisfactory support price and planning of the Ministry of National Food Security & Research, 26.4 million metric tons (mt) of wheat was harvested from an area of 09 MHA and 2.6 million mt, wheat has been imported to meet the consumption of 29.6 million mt. During the current year (2024), the government set the target of 28 million mt wheat by increasing the yield from 2.9 tons per ha to 3.2 tons per ha by upgrading the production system with certified seeds, precise sowing with drills, adopting integrated nutrients, disease, pest and weed management strategies. Yet also, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet has approved the import of 1 million mt wheat from the international market for Rs. 86,811 per ton (Rs. 86.8 billion per mt) for the year 2023-24.

However, the advancements in agriculture have a large potential scope to increase production but little intention was made to reduce the losses on farms, storage and during the supply chain. A report published by FAO revealed that food grain storage losses were reported 30 percent in Southeast Asia, 25-55 percent in South American countries and only 5 percent in the USA. In Pakistan, aggregate losses during postharvest operations recorded 17.1 percent in paddy, 15.3 percent in wheat and 12.6 percent in maize. Similarly, the WFP report documented 12.5 percent losses in wheat. In Pakistan, during harvesting 8 to 17 percent or a reduction of 02 million mt wheat from total production and 15.3 percent during improper storage cost of 1.3 billion per annum was estimated.

With strong leadership, advancements and interventions in agriculture, many countries have transformed from major importers to major exporters of wheat.

In Pakistan, the wheat is harvested with three methods manual cutting followed by tractor mounted thresher, reaper followed by tractor mounted thresher or both cutting or threshing with combine harvesters. It is the point of special attention that 60 percent of wheat was being harvested manually with the help of sickles. It was not only the reason for grain shattering in the field (222.63 kg ha-1; 4.28 to 7 percent) but also consumed more days and left crops vulnerable to losses from natural calamities including hailstorms, fire, birds, rodents, fungus and Aflatoxins.

Although, now around 60-80 percent of harvesting is being done mechanically which no doubt reduces the time and human efforts but increases the scope of the variety section possess uniform maturity, drill sowing, the efficiency of the harvester & technical skill of the operator. It is very difficult to estimate the exact losses during harvesting due to limited research but minimum losses of 199.41kg ha-1; 3.85 percent of grains experienced by tractor-mounted reapers and losses of 149.87 kg ha-1; 2.92 percent by combine harvesters. The maximum limit of losses may increase many folds due to multiple reasons including haphazard sowing with broadcasting, outdated model of machines, driver expertise, time of harvesting and logging of crop in the field. Most of the combine harvesters are altered or repaired by unprofessional mechanics to increase the speed of harvesting irrespective of to amount of grain loss in the head cutter (65 percent of total loss), reel, conveyer belts, broken or larger sieves of separator or cylinders (35 percent), storage tank and unloading auger (13 percent). Moreover, the mechanical or combined harvester delivers a higher proportion of immature grains, granting moisture hazards and subsequent grain quality losses during processing and storage.

In these circumstances, the Ministry of National Food Security & Research should convey the directions to the Agriculture Engineering Institutes (AEI), Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute (AMRI) Multan and Universities in collaboration to propose the urgent task force for data collection of a total number of harvesters in the country, the inspection of existing harvesters and issue fitness certificates and imposed ban or plenty on an unfit harvester before the start of the harvesting season.

After harvesting, further transport, processing and storage directly affect the physical and physiological quality as well as seed health of the grain. During postharvest handling moisture/humidity, temperature & Oxygen are the main culprits of grain quality deterioration. The scientific studies documented that 1 percent moisture contents or 50C temperature elevation half the shelf life of the grain during storage.

Conventionally, after harvesting and threshing grains are packed in jute or polypropylene permeable bags and stored in godowns or an open environment on a raised platform by Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation Ltd (PASSCO) without estimation of moisture contents. These storage modules are inefficient in blocking the absorption of moisture and availability of oxygen in grains which accelerates metabolism, expels heat, favours rodents’ and insect pest attacks as well as fungal (Moulds, Aflatoxin) infestations and consequently quality losses (10-15 percent) which may be extended to total food losses depending upon the intensity of attack (most prominent in humid areas & during monsoon season).

Therefore, the moisture contents in the wheat grain must be below 12 percent, temperature below 100C and storage should be efficient enough to maintain the relative humidity (RH) below 45 percent and ensure the unavailability of oxygen to discourage biological factors of grain wheat deterioration. Developing countries including Pakistan are lacking the resources like air-tight storage modules & continuous supply of energy for cooling. Therefore, at least maintenance of lower seed moisture is the minimum criteria for safe storage of wheat. Dr Irfan Afzal, Associate Professor, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad has developed the climate-smart seed storage technology and designed ANAJI bags with 50kg, hermetic storage drums with 500 kg wheat storage capacity following dry chain concept. These storage modules are efficient in preserving to maintain RH below 45 percent, keep the seed isolated from moisture and oxygen without the further investment of energy for cooling and can preserve the quality of wheat grain independent of season or agroecological climatic diversities.

It is the least requirement that food departments, academia and research institutions of all provinces should collaborate for capacity building of farmers and people involved in the crop procurement process about the methods and scientific techniques to cut down the post-harvest losses in wheat and other food grains.

By taking the measures and actions against wheat grain losses we can at least save enough wheat (2 to 3 million mt) and not only end our dependency on imports but also secure 1.1 billion dollars annually.

It is also worth recalling that with strong leadership, advancements and interventions in agriculture, many countries have transformed from major importers to major exporters of wheat. Russia relayed on wheat import (from 1960 to 1980) 47 million mt in 1985 and now its world’s largest wheat exported 40 million mt. “Culture of Pakistan is Agriculture” and we cannot only prove ourselves as food secure nation but also produce food for others by developing strong liaisons among academia, research institutions, ministries, private sectors and farming communities under the dynamic leadership of the country.

The writer is PhD (Agronomy) and associated with University of Sargodha as Assistant Professor. He can be reached at kamran.muhammad@uos.edu.pk.