Bamikole Ayedun*

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Bamikole Ayedun, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Received: April 28, 2018; Published: June 07, 2018

Citation: Bamikole Ayedun. “Studies on Effects of Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) Bags in Reducing Post-Harvest Loss (PHL) in Maize Storage in Nigeria”. Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 2.7 (2018).

Abstract

  In the year 2014, a survey data was collected from 2010 randomly selected grain farmers, out of which 1652 were farmers that produced and stored maize. This study estimated and compared post-harvest losses (PHL) of stored maize grains through Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag and other storage methods and also determined factors influencing PHL. The result shows that insect constituted 68.3% source of PHL. PHL for stored maize grain were 6.6% for traditional granary, 4.2% for woven bag, 3.6% for airtight containers, 3.1% for improved granary and with the least being 0.1% for PICS bag. Tobit model was estimated with PHL as dependent variable; independent variables like ‘insect attack, stored shelled maize and storing at homes instead of warehouses’ increased PHL, while the ‘use of PICS bag, application of protectants to maize in storage and storage of improved maize variety reduced probability and intensity of PHL’. Considering marginal effect (dy/dx) estimate, it means that insect attack was significant (p < 0.01) and increased probability and intensity of PHL by 9.8%. On the other hand, use of PICS bag for storage reduced (p < 0.01) probability and intensity of PHL by 7%, although ‘use of insect protectants’ reduced PHL, it is not recommended due to its health hazard to man and livestock. While PICS bag caused reduction in probability and intensity of PHL, Logit model was estimated to determine factors influencing the use of PICS bag; result shows that an increase in the use of PICS bag reduced probability of losses through insect attack (p < 0.01) by 10%. More than 50% of the farmers complained of inaccessibility of the bag and its high cost. There is need for intensified awareness creation and making PICS-bag available to maize farmers with prospective storage intentions at affordable prices.

Keywords: Maize Storage; Post-Harvest Losses; Logit Model; Marginal Effect

Copyright: © 2018 Bamikole Ayedun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.