Evaluation of Metal Silo Performance for On-Farm Maize Grain Storage Structure in Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia maize suffers serious postharvest losses in storage due to different factors
among which insect pests are the most important. To address this problem, Sasakawa
Global 2000 - Ethiopia (SG 2000) in collaboration with the International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) introduced and demonstrated hermetically
sealed metal silo as maize grain storage device to farmers in Amhara, Oromia and
SNNP regions in a participatory approach. This study was conducted to evaluate the
performance of the technology at six months of storage and assess farmers’
perception on the technology in order to decide whether the technology can be
disseminated for wide scale use. Farmers reported that weevils and moths followed
by rodents were the major storage problems and cause much loss. Physical analysis
of samples revealed that the metal silo provided complete protection with only 0.6 %
weight loss while the control treatment (polypropylene bag) did not protect the maize
grain from infestation by storage insect pests leading to 5.2 % weight loss. After
evaluating the treatments farmers also unanimously concluded that the metal silo was
very effective in addition to its merits of avoiding chemical hazard, saving of money
and increasing income. As a result farmers showed interest in using the metal silo
technology. Metal silo technology can, therefore, help farmers safely store their
produce and is worth demonstrating and disseminating.