Programme on “Post-Harvest Entomological Techniques''

The post-harvest losses in India are around 10 per cent. Of this, 6.5 per cent occurs during storage alone, C. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said here on Wednesday.Inaugurating a 10-day training programme on “Post-Harvest Entomological Techniques for Insect-free Grain Storage to Achieve Nutritional Security” for scientists involved in entomological research at the university, he underlined the importance of food security to meet the growing populace and the consumption increase on account of rising per capita incomes.

“The annual storage loss is 14 million tonnes of food grains worth approximately Rs. 7,000 crore. The storage insect – female weevil – has the potential to reproduce 15 lakh off springs that can consume 15 lakh kernels of rice (about 30 kgs of rice). When the produce is meant for seed purposes, the value of loss is even higher”, Dr. Ramasamy said.Highlighting the various control mechanisms for storage pests, he pointed out that the chemicals that were used earlier to control the insects left objectionable residues and were hazardous to handle and apply. He called for new and alternative control methods to be employed in an integrated manner to replace insecticides that had been banned for health and environmental reasons.

He urged the scientists to develop biotechnological approaches in addition to the physical, mechanical, biological and botanical methods of control.He told the participants that a “Food Security Mission” was formed by the Government of India with an allocation of Rs. 25,000 crore. The States were preparing to achieve this mission.While emphasising the need for giving more importance to the food industry, the Vice-Chancellor pointed out that the Ministry of Food Processing was in the process of developing a common “Food Act” by merging several Acts, which were meant for ensuring food safety and quality.

“Though traditionally the food processing and technology was a neglected sector, in the last decade or so the National Agricultural Research System has initiated appreciable research and development work across the country”, said the Vice-Chancellor.R. Samiappan, Director, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, TNAU, said that post-harvest technology was gaining importance in India. There was an urgent need to upgrade the food products to suit the global agri-business and also to make them adhere to the international food standards that would become mandatory by 2008.

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