Food policy planners concern themselves primarily with two options for increasing food availability. The first of these is more food production and the second is better distribution of the food once it has been produced. Despite the absence of any hard evidence, there is a fairly widespread belief that post-harvest food losses during rice processing are large, and that an important third option in food policy exists viz the prevention of farm-level post-harvest food losses. Bangladesh produces over 12 mn tons of rice and, according to some commentators, it loses 20 per cent of its production during post-harvest operations I Satake 1978:42; Wimberly 1972:11. Special concern is often expressed regarding farm-level drying, storage and milling operations. Traditional processing practices are commonly regarded as unscientific and the source of major food losses. The research emphasis is invariably upon loss-saving innovation and it is rarely recognised that these practices are also the source of approximately 25 per cent of total agricultural employment and represent a vital source of earnings and therefore of food purchasing power [see Greeley 1980, Section 1].

This article reports on a study of the post-harvest food system at the farm-level in Bangladesh and evaluates the third option by examining: - the levels of post-harvest food losses in rice processing operations; - the implications of technical change in processing methods for food availability.