WFP MALAWI SIGNS PARTNERSHIP TO PILOT HERMETIC GRAIN STORAGE

The World Food Program (WFP) is working with GrainPro® to pilot the use of Ultra Hermetic grain storage solutions in Malawi, according to the latest WFP Country Brief released on May 31, 2017. This pilot is in line with ongoing WFP efforts to break the cycle of food insecurity and poverty in the African country.

GrainPro is among technology developers working closely with WFP to help achieve its global food security goals.

Malawi, a small and land-locked country in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, is facing critical food and nutrition security issues. The country’s population explosion – expanding by 3 percent each year – and recent drops in agricultural production leave most Malawians in poverty and without food. 

GrainPro is among technology developers working closely with  WFP to help achieve its global food security goals. 

GrainPro and its local representative, Chemicals and Marketing, will train at least 60 WFP-beneficiary farmer organizations in 15 districts in the use of hermetic bags as part of the Purchase for Progress (P4P) program. Additionally, GrainPro will also study the perceptions and demands of the farmers to the effectiveness of hermetic technology.

The training program will include the use of the GrainPro’s Ultra Hermetic™ SuperGrainBag® (SGB), a low-cost and reusable liner bag developed primarily for smallholder farmers. Made from multilayered and recyclable polyethylene with a proprietary barrier layer, the SGB 's has sufficiently low permeability to air and water to stop infestation and inhibit the growth of aflatoxin-producing molds.

P4P is an innovative food security initiative launched in 2008 by WFP that seeks to help smallholder farmers better cope with fluctuations in harvests and household food security by adapting technologies that will reduce postharvest losses. The program is funded with the help of the Flanders International Cooperation Agency, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

One of the goals of the program is to introduce new technologies to smallholder farmers. GrainPro is among technology developers working closely with  WFP to help achieve its global food security goals. The training has commenced with series of workshops in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu with farmers organization leaders, lead farmers extension officers and farmers stakeholders.