Post - Harvest Conservation of Food

Abstract

The shortage of proteins in tropical countries cannot be overcome by the development of the breeding of animals originating outside the tropics, as they are ill adapted to the environmental conditions and yield a low output.

Edible pulses, domesticated in these regions, can alleviate this shortage without causing soil degradation, because of their ecological properties, the rapidity of their growth, and the storability of their grains. But agricultural research ignores most of these species, and, although they are no less important than maize, their production is not even mentioned in world statistics.

The protection of the stored grains is essential. The fight against weevils (Bruchidae), which often destroy more than half of the harvest, has been unsuccessful because it has not been based on an adequate knowledge of these beetles, and in particular of how they infest crops at harvest time; they are wrongly believed to attack only stored grains.