Bangladesh: IRRI to lead postharvest loss reduction plan

 The US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently announced Feed the Future’s Innovation Laboratory for the Reduction of Postharvest Loss, an initiative that seeks to promote postharvest solutions across various regions.

The ‘innovation lab’ seeks to help farmers of various crops find the best way to reduce postharvest losses, and specifically targets Ghana, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Bangladesh. IRRI is the lead implementing partner in Bangladesh for rice. It was launched at a meeting hosted by Kansas State University, one of seven US universities involved, on 27-28 January.

“Having IRRI lead the rice postharvest component in Bangladesh under this new multi-crop and multi-country initiative is exciting,” says Alfred Schmidley, IRRI’s business model and value chain specialist. “Using an integrative learning approach with postharvest stakeholders, we can address losses both at the farm and commercial chain levels and thus improve food security and incomes of households and other actors in the postproduction chain.”

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