Farmers in Kenya’s Busia County could now avail of hermetic bags at a low, subsidized rate thanks to the partnership between the Agriculture Ministry, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization, and the six storage firms that are spearheading the hermetic storage revolution in Africa.
The Busia County government is urging farmers to buy and use affordable and efficient hermetic storage bags to protect against weevil infestation. Some one million bags are stocked across the county at a subsidized price of Sh200 (compared to the Sh300 retail price). One of these hermetic solutions is the GrainPro SuperGrainbag® Farm (SGB Farm). The SGB Farm is an Ultra Hermetic™ bag liner with extremely low permeability to air and moisture to stop infestation and inhibit the growth of aflatoxin-producing molds. It is designed to safely preserve the quality of grains and seeds for more than a year.
According to Samson Khachina, County Director of Agriculture,” farmers require bags that are tightly sealed to store their maize.” In Kenya, the weevil infestation occurs because many farmers harvest their maize crops late in the season when it is already too dry to reduce their costs. “It is better for the farmers to take put in the effort to dry their maize to between 13 to 14 percent moisture content,” Khachina said. If done correctly, farmers can use hermetic bags to keep out weevils and kill off any that are still embedded with the stored maize without using harmful chemicals.
USAID has partnered with local governments and agricultural stakeholders to popularize the bags in all the 47 counties. Kenya is taking on a leadership role in food security in Africa. Major topical events, such as the Africa Strategic Grain Reserve Conference, were held in Nairobi last year. The country is also looking to include hermetic storage solutions into its subsidized pricing program. With the threat of food insecurity always a looming issue in the continent, Kenya’s pivotal role cannot be understated.
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