This project is reducing postharvest product and quality losses, and developing physical facilities and research skills for postharvest advancement in the Southern Philippines.  Vegetable consumption in the Southern Philippines is very low, averaging less than 30kg annually and resulting in increased rates of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.  While this low consumption is partly due to cultural preferences for meat and rice, price and availability are also significant barriers. 

Within its general postharvest activities, ACIAR has established a grain storage research program with a specific objective of safe storage of grain. This has been done in response to many requests for assistance in preventing the very substantial losses that are known to occur in the postharvest sector. The program seeks to achieve safe storage by facilitating research on high priority problems, such as grain drying and losses from pests, that have been identified as the major constraints to preserving grain quality after harvest.

The focus of this study is to provide a conceptual framework in which both technological and policy choices can be evaluated in regards to the adoption of modern bulk handling methods and more efficient and effective grain-drying equipment in rice production in Malaysia.

Significant advances in grain harvesting, drying, handling, storage and milling have occurred in the ASEAN region in the last decade

Mike Foale has spent more than 40 years researching coconuts in the Solomon Islands and elsewhere

  ACIAR has supported research into the growing and marketing of sandalwood in Vanuatu. This guide provides practical advice on how to grow sandalwood, including site and host selection, spacing, weeding, disease management, pruning and harvesting. Sandalwood’s high value and small size make it unique among forestry trees in that it can be incorporated into smaller ornamental gardens as well as larger commercial plantings. This guide will help the people of Vanuatu and other Pacific island countries to participate in this lucrative rural industry.

  While India’s expansion of the rice–wheat cropping system led to the production of more food, it has also led to degradation of the natural environment, and concerns over the sustainability of the practice. This report looks at the returns on investment of ACIAR projects that sought to develop alternative practices for growing rice and wheat sustainably, and designing a machine that allows direct seeding of wheat into rice stubble.