YAMAMOTO CO., LTD.

Rice cultivation in developing countries involves numerous problems to be solved. Besides, as these problems are locked together, improvements are not easy to achieve. Despite this situation, it is common knowledge that efforts have piled up steadily in each country in regard to breeding, irrigation, well managing of rice cultivation, pest control, and other purposes. However, most of these efforts are for establishing measures to solve problems existing prior to harvesting while those for post-harvest processes are insignificant. One of the reasons why post-harvest practices, in other word, the method of reducing post-harvest losses, has not advanced is customary practices as well as social and economic fences traditionally kept around the post-harvest practices in farm villages.
Therefore, it is important to eliminate these problems as much as possible, looking straight at the obstructions to improvement. Among the obstructions, although there are those in the natural environment which we cannot change such as high temperature, high humidity and rainfall, there are some common elements such as shortage of labor during harvesting (though there are some places with exceptional surpluses). Thus, it is necessary to promote improvement starting from elements that can be handled after acknowledging those are common.

Precaution of Drawing-up Measures

1)Establish post-harvest Process Improvement Committee.
2)Start from a detailed field survey of the actual situation of post-harvest
practices.
3)Draw up measures for improvement after fully grasping each standpoint and
relationships among the Government, Ministries and Department concerned, local
governments, rice cropping farmers, middlemen in village, rice millers, and
other related to distribution.
4)Calculate material and immaterial costs of improvements or reducing losses,
and make comparative calculations of such costs and the merits of loss
reduction.
5)After analyzing the relationships between the respective items to be improved
and other industrial fields, as well as the degree of difficulty involved in
each item, divide them into those that can be started immediately and those
that cannot but have to be prepared in near future, and draw up action
programs for improvements.

Measures Common to Each Country

Setting-up or Reinforcing a Post-harvest Process Improvement Committee

The necessity of establishing a post-harvest process improvement committee or its reinforcement is described in detail in previous section. Here, it is necessary to evaluate the policy, strategy and tactics with regard to the method of improving the post-harvest rice processes. Based on this evaluation, the improvements are implemented.

Setting-up or Reinforcing a Rice Post-harvest Technology Research Center

This center carries out research from all perspectives for improving. Results should be used for drawing up improvement plans and through promotional activities. In some cases, it may require technical cooperation or financial grants from foreign countries.