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FAO's Experiences with Crop Loss Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

G. G. M. Schulten
G. G. M. Schulten
Affiliation:
Plant Protection Service, FAO, Via Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy
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Abstract

FAO has in the past given much attention to the development, dissemination and use of methods to assess pre- and postharvest crop losses. The experience gained shows that losses vary with location, crop, pest and differ from year to year. The collection of data on a national or regional basis is expensive, since data have to be collected over a number of years. Therefore, loss assessment is now mainly used as a tool to develop loss reduction strategies and to assesss the cost-effectiveness of introduced methods.

A reservation is made with respect to the quoting of data on losses, without giving information on how these data were collected and interpreted, because data presented in that way can easily be misinterpreted.

Many useful crop preharvest loss assessment methods are presently available for the researcher, but there is, however, an urgent need for simple methods for use by extensionists and farmers in other situations. The developed methods to assess postharvest losses in grains are adequate.

Résumé

Dans le passé, la FAO s'est particulièrement attachée au développement, à la diffusion et à l'utilisation de méthodes permettant d'évaluer les pertes avant et après récolte. L'expérience acquise montre que les pertes dépendent beaucoup de L'emplacement, de la récolte et des déprédateurs, et qu'elles varient d'année en année. II est coôteux de recueillir des données au niveau national ou régional, d'autant plus que cette activité doit être menée pendant plusieurs années. De ce fait, actuellement, l'évaluation des pertes sert surtout à développer des stratégies de réduction des pertes et à évaluer la rentabilité des méthodes introduites.

Une réserve est émise pour ce qui est de la citation de données sur les pertes sans donner d'informations sur la manière dont elles ont été recueillies et interprétées. En effet, des données présentées de cette manière peuvent aisément être mal interprétées.

De nombreuses méthodes d'évaluation des pertes avant récolte sont actuellement à la disposition du chercheur, mais il est nécessaire de développer au plus vite des méthodes simples à l'usage des agents de vulgarisation et des fermiers. Les méthodes développées pour évaluer les pertes aprés récolte sont adéquates.

Keywords

FAOcrop loss assessmentpostharvest loss assessmentFAOevaluation des pertesevaluation des pertes apres recolte
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science , Volume 9 , Special Issue 6: On-Farm and Post-Harvest Losses of Cereal Crops in Africa due to Pests and Diseases , December 1988 , pp. 763 - 767
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1988

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References

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