Dear FSN-Moderator:
Subject Matter Expert (Food Loss and Waste Cohort 5)
Seed Scientist (Retd.), University of California, Davis, USA
Former Coordinator of NRNA Americas to Agri Promotion Committee; Asta-Ja RDC-USA; Nepalese Agricultural Professional Association (NAPA)
Building resilient food systems
Contributors:
Peetambar Dahal, Kent Bradford, Pedro Bello, University of California, Davis, USA; Aditya R. Khanal, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Johan van Asbrouck, Shakeel Imran, Rhino Research, Bangkok, Thailand; Irfan Afzal, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan; Keshavulu Kunusoth, President, ISTA and Govt. of Telangana, Hyderabad, Telangana State, India; Filippo Guzzon, Bioversity International, Rome, Italy and Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees, Suva, Fiji; Denise E. Costich, Institute for Genomic Diversity, Cornell University, New York, USA; Luis Barboza, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica; Muhammad Amir Bakhtavar, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan; Maraeva Gianella, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom; Durga D. Poudel, Asta-Ja USA and University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA; Sarah De Saeger, Centre of Excellence in Mycotoxicology and Public Health, Ghent University, Belgium; Krishna Belbase, United Nations Children’s Fund, New York, USA (Retd.); Ravi Kafle, Dept. of Public Health, Washington State, USA; Meghnath Dhimal, Ministry of Health, Kathmandu, Nepal; Sundar Tiwari, Agriculture and Forestry University, Chitwon, Nepal; Balkrishna Joshi, Krishna Timsina, Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Kathmandu, Nepal.
We presented multidisciplinary dry chain (Bradford et al., 2018) to improve quality of dry products (seed, food/feed). This is a recently emerged concept to improve quality in agrifood systems. It has been appreciated by the Agrilinks, USAID to reduce farm food losses in the developing countries (https://agrilinks.org/post/cold-and-dry-chain-reduce-food-loss-and-waste). Furthermore, several FAO FSN calls have also realized the utility of the dry chain for agrobiodiversity and nutrition, science-policy interface, regional and multistakeholder perspectives on emerging technologies and innovations in agrifood systems (https://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/12332; https://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/12377); https://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/12438; https://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/12478).
The ability of the dry chain to protect dry products from adverse effects of high humidity (high moisture content) enables quality storage for prolonged periods. Such storage could be up to several decades for dry seeds. Storage of 50-ton dry corn feed in a barn near Beijing maintained nutrients and quality for 4 years where the quality parameters declined on the 5th year. Growth rate of chicken and meat quality corresponded with maintenance and decline of feed quality parameters. Following initial natural drying, continuous forced aeration and annual fumigation was used to maintain corn quality. However, dry chain needs initial drying to safe humidity levels followed by waterproof packaging to enable climate smart and pesticide-free storage. To face frequent and irregular climates now and in the future, dry chain is an innovative tool to complement food resilience.
الدكتور Peetambar Dahal