Harvest and Post-harvest Operations

Harvest and post-harvest operations constitute principal constraints to rice production, especially in irrigated systems, because of the larger yield that has to be handled. Post-harvest crop losses of up to 35% have been reported and attributed to inefficiency of manual threshing of rice by small-scale farmers. This leads to poor grain quality and rejection of locally produced rice. The Africa Rice Center has spearheaded partnership in Senegal between private local companies (SAED) and the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA) which led to the development of an improved rice thresher cleaner (ASI), in turn leading to a commercial release of the first prototype in 1997 in the Senegal River Valley. The ASI thresher has been widely adopted in Senegal because it enables farmers to produce high value rice with better competitiveness at the market level. The experience in Senegal has been successfully transferred to several West African countries.