Colossal 350,000 tonnes of paddy wasted during harvesting due to bad practices

By Ifham Nizam

A harvesting survey conducted by the Department of Agriculture has revealed that the wastage during paddy reaping has increased between 10 and 15 percent in this Maha season and in some areas it is about 25 percent.

The Department also said the post-harvest damage related to paddy cultivation in this Maha season is at least 350,000 tonnes.

“There are number of reasons for this. Although farmers have been cultivating paddy for a long time, many farmers do not have a proper understanding of when to harvest. Many farmers delayed reaping until the entire panicle of the paddy are ripe”, a Ministry official said.

The agricultural sector emphasized that 80 percent of the panicles should be harvested after they are fermented, and that the best part of the panicles is wasted.

Minister Amaraweera said that it is part of the duty of the farmers to teach the lesson of reducing post-harvest damage in paddy cultivation by “harvesting within thirty days of seeing the panicle of the paddy” as the old villagers say.

He also said that amount of valuable crops lost due to crop damage this year would be billions of rupees, and if that amount could have been prevented, there would have been a possibility of a surplus of rice in the country from the Maha harvest.

After the panicle is well dried, the wastage caused by machines like Bhootaya and Tsunami used for harvesting has increased.

Therefore, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed by giving a report that the crops are germinating in the field within a few days after harvesting because of the best rice that was wasted.