productivity, or making other technological 

 improvements . 



Problems abound in this area. The costs of 

 bringing land into production continue to rise, and the 

 expense and environmental damage associated with 

 production inputs constrain their use. People are 

 beginning to question the wisdom of building ever more 

 irrigation dams and using ever greater amounts of 

 chemical fertilizers to grow crops. However, as the 

 following initiatives suggest, important gains in world 

 food supplies are possible via other routes including 

 the reduction of postharvest food losses, more 

 efficient management of tropical soils and water at the 

 farm level, and better plant and animal protection. 

 Furthermore, there is a good prospect that scientific 

 research may, in the long run, develop crop plants that 

 are inherently more productive than those now 

 available. 



1. Reducing Postharvest Food Losses 



Conservative estimates of the amount of food lost 

 between harvest and consumption as a result of pests, 

 microorganisms, inadequate storage, poor processing 

 techniques, and the like, range upward from 10 percent 

 for grains and legumes and 20 percent for perishables. 

 A campaign to reduce or prevent these losses could thus 

 result in a major increase in world food availability 

 with minimal disruption of familiar production 

 techniques and existing socioeconomic arrangements. 



The problem of postharvest food losses is well 

 recognized. In 1975, the Seventh Special Session of 

 the U.N. General Assembly proposed priority efforts to 

 reduce postharvest losses by at least 50 percent by 

 19 85. We believ e that the United States should 

 allocate more resources to this goal. In addition, we 

 recommend that the United States encourage the 

 formation of an International Coordinating Council on 

 Postharvest Food Losses to provide a forum in which 

 coordination could be worked out among presently 

 scattered activities in the United states and 

 elsewhere. The council could support or foster 

 development of loss assessment methodologies; 

 strengthen information exchange; encourage scientific 

 and socioeconomic research; promote training programs; 

 identify or develop useful low-cost equipment; and 

 encourage other public and private institutions to 

 contribute funds or expertise to this effort. 



Many known techniques for reducing losses can be 

 adapted for use at the farm level if trained personnel 

 and other resources are made available. Thus rapid 

 impact could be expected, contributing to a reduced 



