ABSTRACTS
Nigeria has enormous potentials for
the production and processing of rice not only for domestic consumption but for
export, that is, if it is well grown, harvested, cleaned, handled, dried,
stored, milled, transported, and marketed. This work showcases the activities
of the Abakaliki rice mill complex
through development and administration of questionnaire and valid respondent
assertion/contributions. A 2 ´ 5 factorial in completely randomized design
(CRD) with no blocking experiment was conducted whereby five varieties of rice
are regarded as factor A and Heat treatment (parboiling/steaming) as factor B.
The measured values of the physical parameters of the grains were replicated
three (3) times.
At moisture content range (15 –
18%) wb, the compressive force against natural position of the grain were also
determined at different points of rupture/cracks of the rice varieties as
panacea for minimizing losses during different unit operations. An enormous
quantity (25%) of rice is lost during processing of rice along the unit
operations and the losses are variety specific. The effect of heat treatment
(steaming) on the physical properties of different rice varieties were carried
out to investigate the relationship between biophysical properties and
mechanical properties of different rice varieties.
The result shows that the study had
the requisite requirements to carryout this research based on the level of
education and experiences of the respondents (staff). 51.6% of the respondents
had secondary education, 29% tertiary education, 16% primary education and 3.2%
studied under informal education. Also 63% of the respondents had 10 years
experience and 37% less than 10 years experience.
Over seventeen (17) rice varieties
were identified to be processed at the mill complex and that unit operations
like cleaning, grading, soaking, steaming, drying and to little extent, bagging
are done manually. Virtually, all the unit operations encountered losses except
for little losses recorded during steaming and size grading.
81% of the respondents declared
that lack of technical know-how is one of the causes of losses as well as
machine obsolescence. At 5% probability level, the effect of heat treatment on
rice grain has a significant effect on the biochemical and physical structure
of the rice variety at different least significant differences. The interaction
between rice variety and heat treatment showed that there is significant
difference among varieties and non-significance between/in some varieties.
Each physical parameter measured
within a rice variety, the variety mean are significantly different to each
other. Therefore, it means each variety is unique except for few similarly in
their parameters.
Interaction between rice variety
and individual rice grain parameter measurement showed mean significant
difference among the varieties with few exceptions of a particular least
significant difference. Consideration of variation in natural position of rice
grain at rest during compression gave representative apparent compressive
strength across the five varieties. Therefore, it is adviceable to handle a
particular rice variety at a time because losses are variety specific.
CHAPTER
ONE
1 INTRODUCTION
Rice (Oryza sativa)
is cereal and arable crop with many varieties cultivated in almost all parts of
the world. It is the staple food of more than 3 billion people in the world
especially in Asian, Latin America, and Africa (Echiegu, 2009). It is envisaged
that by 2015 more than half of the world population will depend on rice as
their principal foodstuff. Production outlook is expected to be positive in
Africa, where high world prices may sustain a two percent growth, particularly
in Egypt, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Concerns about food import
dependency in the region have led to a mobilization of resources towards this
sector- the rice sector (FAO, 2008). As a matter urgency, on 16 December, 2002,
the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2004 the International Year
of Rice (IYR). This declaration aimed to focus the world’s attention on the role
that rice can play in providing food security and poverty alleviation (IYR,
2004). In Nigeria, rice is one of the few foodstuffs whose consumption has no
religious, cultural or geographical boundary (Omofonmwan and Kadiri, 2007).
Rice is the best cereal crop in terms of food energy per production area. Rice
is usually consumed in various forms namely: plain rice, breakfast cereals,
cakes, fermented sweet rice, snack, food, beer, wine, vinegar, etc
(Answers.com, 2009).
With the increasing
food insecurity and challenges therein as a consequences of global food crisis,
Nigeria with over 140 million people is not left to the effect of these
problems. Food (rice production) may be
produced in abundance at short duration but tends to decrease incoherently due
to inability to process, store, preserve, handle, transport and/losses at
post-harvest processes. These are some of the fundamental reasons for food
shortage/scarcity and insecurity. Rice production as a cereal (grain)
experiences a high level of processing, storage, handling, transportation and
losses at 25% post-harvest every season. And this represents some tens of
millions of metric tonnes of food (IYR, 2004). The food post-production sector
is a vital component of the food system, and its development can stimulate
improvements in the use of resources. One indication of the need for increased
allocation of resources for research and development in the post-production
system is the level of postharvest losses. Losses are attributed to a
combination of factors affecting the way the rice crop is grown, harvested,
cleaned, handled, dried, stored, milled, and marketed. These losses are either
outright physical losses, or deterioration of quality which reduces the
commercial value. Significant gains have been made in understanding the
socio-economic environment under which the industry operates, and in
understanding the post-harvest processes and the bio-chemical properties of the
rice grain as it relates to maintaining the milled rice quality. The big gap
has been in the development of technologies suitable to the conditions
prevailing in Nigeria, and in the institutional arrangements to enable local
farmers and processors to use technology to improve productivity in their
operations. Once the paddy rice has left the farm, it enters the domain of the
post-production sector. The people involved in the post-production sector are
not usually farmers themselves (rice producers). They are entrepreneurs
(private rice processors) who invest in technology. In Nigeria, most work as
part of a small family business as seen in Abakaliki Rice Mill Complex in
Ebonyi State-where there are clusters of Rice processing Entrepreneurs. The key
players in the post-production sector are the traders, the processors, the
wholesalers and the retailers. These entrepreneurs are profit driven, and
respond to market forces. They form a business network, and the marketing
economists view this network as a marketing system. The post-production
technologies are the tools of their trade. The development of technology in
Nigeria to store and process rice, and deliver it from the farms to the
consumers, has not kept pace with the developments in the farm production
sector. This lag is attributed to a strategic misunderstanding of the target
research beneficiaries in the post-production sector. Public-sector (government
sponsored) research cannot seem to accept entrepreneurs as the direct
beneficiary of research results. This perhaps is due to the fact that most
researches come from a culture of incoherency marked with random field of
interest and thoughts instead of problem-solution basis. However, this work
provide solutions for both government and private sectors (entrepreneur) as
means of evaluating quantitatively the level of post-harvest losses in rice
production in Nigeria. With different varieties of rice grown in Nigeria, The
new high-yielding varieties (HYV) of rice have been adopted widely in some rice
farms, and these account for most of the yield increase. Rice production using
HYV has revolutionized the industry. New/improved technologies are required.
For example, it was found that farmers needed a new method for harvesting and
post harvest improve technologies to be able to carry out effectively emergence
of these challenges in rice production systems. Post harvest losses can be
attributed from some of each steps of the flow processes adopted for rice
production which includes threshing, drying paddy, soaking, parboiling,
milling, cleaning, sorting, de-stoning, grading and polishing etc. However, Production of good-quality milled rice
starts at the farm with good-quality seeds, and good crop management for
uniform growth and expected high grain
yield. The other factors that affect quality, such as mixing of varieties, heat
treatment and discoloration, poor precision, contamination, insect damage in
storage, fissuring in drying, and breakage in milling, are expected to be
controlled in the post-production operations. The same levels of expertise are
needed to minimize physical losses applied to producing good-quality grain. The
lack of appropriate technology, technical and management skills are
consequences of poor-quality milled rice
output as such result in economic
losses.( Dante, 1999).
From historical
perspective, Nigeria’s rice policy can be discussed in reference to three
important periods. These are the pre-ban, ban and post-ban periods. The pre-ban
period is the era prior to the introduction of absolute quantitative
restriction on rice imports (i.e., 1971-1985). This epoch can also be
classified in two – the pre-crisis (1971- 1980) and the crisis period
(1981-1985). The pre-crisis period was largely characterized by liberal
policies on rice imports though ad hoc policies were put in place during times
of interim shortages. During the crisis period, more stringent policies were
instituted, though outright ban was not a major feature. In the ban period
(i.e., 1986-1995), it was illegal to import rice into the country though
illegal importation of the commodity through the country’s porous borders
thrived during this period. In the post-ban period (1995 to date), quantitative
restrictions on rice importation were lifted while the country generally
adopted a more liberal trade policy towards rice. During the pre-ban period
(i.e., before 1986), government policies had artificially lowered domestic rice
and fertilizer prices relative to the world price level. This was achieved
through:
Massive importation
of rice between 1975 and 1985 resulting in low price of domestically produced
rice.
Government
involvement in the distribution, marketing of the imported rice with non
transfer of actual costs of marketing to consumers but rather absorbed by
government.
Protection of elite urban consumers at the
expense of farmers leading to depressed farm produces prices.
Protection of
producers through input subsidies such that actual input costs were not
translated into production decision-making process.
The ban on rice importation came
into effect in 1985. It was anticipated to stimulate domestic production
through increases in the price of the commodity. The introduction of the
Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in 1986 reinforced the ban already placed
on rice import. Under SAP, various trade policies were put in place. This was
in addition to the depreciation of the naira arising from exchange rate
deregulation. The overvalued exchange rate had served as an implicit tax on
rice producers as it cheapened imported rice relatively and discouraged
domestic participation in rice production. Nigeria has employed various trade
policy instruments such as tariff, import restrictions, and outright ban on
rice import at various times (Sutcliffe and Ayomike, 1986). During the 1970s
and early 1980s, increased export earnings coupled with the highly over valued
naira exchange rate made it possible for Nigeria to finance huge food imports.
The high naira exchange rate cheapened food imports and consequently helped to
depress domestic prices and rice production indifference. Large importation of
food items especially rice was allowed into the country at relatively cheap
prices. This eroded the competitiveness of domestically produced rice and
served as major disincentive to rice farmers.
1.1 OBJECTIVES
OF STUDY
The objectives of the work are:
1,) To determine the level of post harvest
losses (quantitatively via Field Questionnaire) of the rice produced at the
Abakaliki rice mill.
2,) To determine the effect of heat
treatment (Steaming) on the physical properties of different rice varieties
that lead to post harvest losses.
3,) To determine the effect of
Force-deformation (stress-strain relationship) considering the variation of the
natural contact surface of rice which lead to losses during milling operation.
1.2 JUSTIFICATIONS OF STUDY
Over the past several
decades, rice has established itself as a preferred staple food in
Nigeria. The increase in rice demand is
attributed to a consumer shift from traditional staples, such as yam and garri,
to imported parboiled rice (Fasonline, 2002).
In addition, local prices have encouraged the shift towards rice due to
poor harvest of food crops and corresponding higher prices of the local
staples. Parboiled rice is imported to
meet consumer demand in urban areas where the incomes are generally high
(Fasonline, 2002). Only a limited portion of the locally grown rice crop is
available for urban market centres such as Lagos and other cities, because
small-scale rice farmers produce subsistence levels of rice with remaining
surplus portions consumed at the village level.
Locally milled rice is also of poor quality and quantity falls far short
of urban demand. Many urban consumers
are also weary of picking stones from the rice and washing local rice several
times, while imported parboiled rice is clean and free from foreign matter
(Fasonline, 2002). Some remarkable developments have also taken place in this
sector particularly in the last ten years. Both production and consumption have
increased during the period, although the increased production was not
sufficient to match the consumption increase, with rice imports making up the
shortfall. Because rice is now a structural component of the Nigerian diet and
rice imports make an important share of Nigerian agricultural imports, there is
considerable political interest in increasing the consumption of local rice.
This has made rice a highly political commodity in Nigeria. With the global
food security problem, particularly the increased demand for Rice, Nigeria may
soon be exporting Rice to other countries (Echiegu, 2009). Export quality rice
must not only be well processed but must be graded and packaged to meet
international standard quality with minimum loss. Despite the importance of
Nigerian rice production even within the West African sub-region, comprehensive
and up-to-date information about the level of resource use efficiencies of the
farmers is still lacking. The few available studies were either system based or
location specific. Moreover, most of these studies focused primarily on the
profitability of the enterprise, without in-depth enquiry into efficiencies of
farmers and factors that determine their levels of efficiency (Ogundele, et
al., 2003). There is need to make sure researches and developments in rice production
are made available to farmers and also periodically conduct appraisal to
ascertain the level of production ultimately for maximum production and export
(foreign exchange).
1.3 SCOPE/BACKGROUND
OF STUDY
This work is expected
to cover the potentials for the production and processing of rice not only for
domestic consumption but for increased rice export. With the interventions and interest in rice in the
country, it is expected that Nigeria will soon have a great local production of
rice and soon be exporting rice of high quality standards that are acceptable
in the international market (Echiegu,2009). However, it is necessary to
appraise logically the processing techniques and technologies involved (both
imported and local), the physical and mechanical properties of rice varieties
(improved) as well as post harvest
handling and storage with precision to
minimize post harvest losses during rice production. Ultimately, characterize
via field questionnaire and examination via laboratory test for rice varieties
on the possible causes of losses in post harvest production of rice. The case
study-Abakaliki rice mill complex was chosen because it is one of the nerve
centres for rice milling (processing) in southeastern Nigeria but it serves
majorly the entire southern part of the country as well as other part of
Nigeria.