By Muhammad Mudassar ISLAMABAD, Feb. 18 (INP-WealthPK): Pakistan has the potential of $4.5 billion rice exports, but currently, the exports stand at $2.1 billion. By taking pragmatic steps, Pakistan can improve its production and exports, according to Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research. The minister said in a statement that Pakistan’s total production of rice this season is 9 million tons. Pakistan's domestic consumption of rice was 3.5 million tons in FY 2020-21. He said that with a total stock of 2.5 million tons from the previous year, Pakistan now has an export potential of 8 million tons. Globally, Pakistan is the fourth largest  rice exporter and the 11th largest rice producer. Rice yields are 2.56 tons per hectare in Pakistan, but the world average is 4.7 tonnes per hectare, which shows there is a lot of room for improvement.

Year	Production (Million Tons)	Export (Billion Dollars)
2014-15	7.003	2.2
2015-16	6.801	1.9
2016-17	6.849	1.7
2017-18	7.45	1.7
2018-19	7.202	2
2019-20	7.414	2.2
2020-21	8.419	2.1

Pakistan Economic Survey 2020-21 During pre and post-harvesting, a large amount of rice is lost, WealthPK reported. Post-harvesting accounts for direct loss of rice physically and quality-wise that reduces the economic value of crop or makes it unsuitable for human consumption. Due to over-exposure to fluctuating temperature, a huge quantity of rice is cracked during threshing, causing rice breakage during processing (milling) and reducing its quality. Journal of Agricultural Research and Technology states that due to mismanagement, pest attack, and spoilage, almost 25 percent of rice is lost after harvest in developing countries. Different stages of rice crops and how it is wasted are described below.

Stages of rice crop	How the rice is wasted
Handling at harvesting	During harvesting, eatable crops are left in the field that is eaten by pests. The harvest timing is not optimal, so the crop is damaged during harvesting.
Threshing	A lot of crops are wasted due to the use of poor techniques.
Drying and transportation of rice	Due to the use of conventional methods for drying the rice, lack of poor road infrastructure and spoiling/bruising negatively affect the quality and quantity.
Storage	Due to the lack of proper cleanliness and climate control storage facilities, pests and diseases attack the rice. Spillage, contamination, natural drying out of food are other reasons.
Primary processing, cleaning, classification, hulling, pounding, grinding, packaging, soaking, winnowing, drying, sieving, milling.	Process losses; contamination in the process causing loss of quality.
Secondary processing, mixing, cooking, frying, molding, cutting, extrusion.	Process losses; contamination in the process causing loss of quality.
Packaging	The use of inferior quality polypropylene sacks causes damage to the rice quality. Crop spillage from sacks increases the probability of attack by pests.
Marketing, selling, and distribution of crops	Waste/damage during transportation.
Post-consumer	Consumers have poor storage/stock management, discarded before serving, and poor food preparation.

  Technological innovation is an important factor in boosting agricultural output and reducing wastage. Developing countries like Pakistan lag in the latest/up-to-date technologies. Weak transportation and crop management system are important factors that increase the probability of rice wastages. Almost 95 percent of farmers own less than 12.5 acres of land. Small farmers do not have storage facilities because of limited resources. Weather is also an important factor that affects the rice crop yield. Pakistan is extremely sensitive to climate change, which causes changes in rain patterns, droughts, and flooding, among other things. Farmers should adopt latest technologies/techniques that help reduce rice wastage. The government should motivate the farmers to adopt new/updated rice seed varieties according to the area specification like Basmati-386, Supra, Supri, etc., and make them accessible for farmers. The government should introduce new crop management practices that ensure an increase in crop yield. Moreover, road infrastructure in rural areas must be improved. Shifting to combined rice harvesting is advisable to control harvest and post-harvest losses in milling and address the problem of burning rice straw. Paddy drying at the farm level must be introduced to improve the quality of paddy and its by-products.