FOR LILO FRUITS, QUALITY PRESERVATION A REALITY THROUGH HERMETIC BAGS

LILO Fruits is not your typical fruit trading company. Based in Costa Rica, owners Kris Carvajal and Junior Quesada are passionate about employing innovative and improved ways to protect the quality of their organically-grown products. Their obsession gained the trust and confidence of their customers, both locally and abroad. One of the ways they safely preserve their coffee and turmeric, is by packing them in GrainPro® SuperGrainbags® (SGB) -- an Ultra Hermetic™ liner with super low permeability to air and moisture.

The company grows organically different types of foodcrops at their Finca Lilo de Biolley, situated inside the largest rainforest park in Central America. The beautiful and lush location is perfect for growing various food crops that include various fruits-bearing trees such as lime, graviola, rambutan, banana, and coffee, and spices such as black pepper and their prized turmeric.

“LILO Fruits strives to inspire our buyers and our communities to lead an active, healthy lifestyle by offering simple and convenient options that are always fresh, safe and healthy,” explains Jennifer Long, a partner and spokesperson. Their commitment to their customers, farmers and the communities they belong to motivates them to utilize bio-intensive, bio-dynamic and permaculture techniques to ensure that they have the best, healthiest, cleanest, and the freshest offerings.

However, protecting their organically-grown commodities against insects and fungal growth is a major cause of concern. This is when LILO Fruits began using SGBs.

Other similar companies would’ve resorted to chemical fumigation. A common problem among companies that promote organically-grown commodities is that they employ inorganic measures along their production processes. Chemicals tend to kill adult insects, but leave eggs to develop and do damage later. Additionally, chemical residues are left on the commodities, which are eventually ingested by consumers. These are some of the reasons why international regulations are implementing tighter policies on the use of chemical fumigants on food crops.

The SuperGrainbag is just one of many Ultra Hermetic solutions developed by GrainPro. It’s an affordable liner bag designed to protect dried agricultural commodities against infestation and mold growth, while preserving freshness and aromatic qualities for more than a year. What’s more is that using the SGB can kill all insects, including their eggs, without chemical fumigation.

“We’ve had positive results from using the GrainPro bags (SGB) in shipping roasted coffee and powdered turmeric,” says Long. She described that they store the commodities in double layered SGBs for added protection. “I am happy that the bags organically control insects without any chemical residues. GrainPro truly pleases us!”

The combination of the quality of their products’ and their handling make them stand out in the market. They have big plans ahead, too. Organic medicinal food products made of raw materials grown from the region are already in the works.

It’s all about quality. Through Ultra Hermetic storage, LILO Fruits has a sustainable way to safely preserve quality without putting in chemicals that could harm those they serve their products to. The future is looking bright for LILO Fruits.

GrainPro Distributor Leads the Way in Safe Storage in Ghana

 In 2010, Nana Yaw Obeng immediately saw the potential of hermetic technology to safely store grains and seeds. His vision is paving the way to safer postharvest storage and organic preservation, not only in Ghana, but throughout the continent.

A Postharvest Technology graduate of the Natural Resource Institute in the United Kingdom, Nana returned to Ghana upon completion of his degree and worked for the government. He started Agrimat, Ltd., as a trader of agricultural inputs and machineries. It is through his business that he found out about the GrainPro® SuperGrainbag®, a hermetic liner bag with superior air and water barriers to stop infestation and inhibit fungal growth without using chemicals. 

Harvest season is a busy time for the Agrimat team when farmers flock to buy these miraculous storage bags. Each farmer buys up to 10 to 15 bags at 8 Cedis, or less than US$2 per bag. Ivy Oduro Donkyi holds Agrimat’s wholesale warehouse, where GrainPro bags are sold to retailers from all over the countryside. Ivy is on her 14th year with Agrimat and she confirms, “our clients are happy with the performance of the SuperGrainbag and they keep coming back.” At the store, we find Dora Bempong who’s been an employee for 20 years with Sophia Turkson, another 14-year employee. Dora says, “I also use the SGB at my house to store rice and since I began using it, I’ve never had any infestation problems.”

The liner bag isn’t the only hermetic solution Agrimat is offering. Tom de Bruin, who visited Agrimat last month, explains that, "as the oldest and most senior partner of GrainPro in Africa, Agrimat also sells Cocoons™, which can hermetically store up to 1050 metric tons." They are piloting a new government initiative to set up grain warehousing facilities that will help smallholder farmers safely store their crops without the use of chemicals. This puts them and hermetic storage at the forefront of food loss reduction. 

BABBAN GONA AMONG RECEPIENTS OF 2017 SKOLL AWARDS

Kola Masha, Managing Director of the Babban Gona program in Nigeria, is among this year’s recipients of the prestigious Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. Masha, a supporter of hermetic storage and social enterprise, was recognized for his role in creating a model that attracts smallholder farmers and the nation’s unemployed youths. This agricultural program is generating employment opportunities, livelihoods, and is keeping younger generations from joining extremist groups and gangs in the country.

Babban Gona provides much needed support through financing, training, tools, technology, and marketing to increase the yields and profits of farmers by 2.3 times the national average. The member farmers bring their harvests to Babban Gona collection centers for processing and storage. The crops are stored inside GrainPro® Cocoons™ to safely preserve the quality and freshness of the products for extended periods without the use of harmful chemicals. The crops are then sold by Babban Gona during the lean season to trusted customers who pay a premium for quality. 

This results in higher profits for the farmers. But more than that, the program is creating opportunities and making agriculture a viable livelihood for the millions of youths who are without employment prospects in a country that has one of the worst unemployment rates in the continent.

The Skoll Awards distinguish transformative leaders whose organizations disrupt the status quo, drive sustainable large-scale change, and are poised to create even greater impact on the world. Awardees’ organizations receive $1.25 million core support investments to scale their work and increase their impact. The social entrepreneurs also gain leverage through their long-term participation in a global community of visionary leaders and innovators dedicated to solving some of the biggest global challenges of our time.

Rural Distribution Plays an Important Role in the Safe Preservation of Grains and Seeds in Ethiopia

“This is the first year I’m not buying chemicals to store my grain,” Baraka Nurie, the mother of three small children, revealed to Jordan Dey, GrainPro® VP for Food Security, during a visit on February in Ethiopia’s Gurage Region.

What gives? A new rural distribution strategy initiated in January 2017 by GrainPro’s Ethiopia distributor, HiTec, will give millions of small farmers access to pesticide-free and safe hermetic storage. Hermetic bags, such as GrainPro’s SuperGrainbag®, help stop infestation and inhibit the growth of aflatoxin-producing molds, while retaining the quality, color, and taste of stored grains for months, even years without using chemicals that can harm consumers.

HiTec’s strategy involves partnering with governments and local groups to conduct outreach activities that will see highly-trained agricultural extension officers visiting rural communities to train and educate farmers on hermetic storage, and establish a network of local dealers to supply the farmers.

Farmers in Ethiopia traditionally grow corn, sorghum and teff for their household consumption, keeping four or five bags (100KG) of the grain in their house.  Bugs, particularly weevils, immediately show up, infesting the grain, eating the nutritious core and reducing the contents to a powdery mess.

To combat this problem, farmers, desperate due to the lack of appropriate, affordable and alternative preservation methods during storage, are directly applying chemicals categorized under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants on their grains every couple of months. Some of these chemicals have doubtful origins and are banned internationally from use without proper training because their use can have negative health and environmental effects. 

These chemicals kill the weevils, but leave residues that threaten the health of consumers, particularly children, and farm animals. At a financial standpoint, chemical pesticides reduce the market value of their crops. Additionally, the improper use of these chemicals can lead to environmental problems and health concerns for users and their families. Given the downsides of using chemicals, hermetic storage is clearly the safer and more cost-efficient alternative.

HiTec’s strategy involves partnering with governments and local groups to conduct outreach activities that will see highly-trained agricultural extension officers visiting rural communities to train and educate farmers on hermetic storage, and establish a network of local dealers to supply the farmers. One of the dealers, Shafi Agro in Butajira, already sold 439 GrainPro bags since the program started. 

The financial incentives of storing are undeniable. In southern Ethiopia, with the harvest just in, the price for a 100 KG bag of corn is currently $19 USD. In five months, as supplies diminish, the market price will increase to $31 per bag, or a 60% gain. The small farmers can recoup the cost of their investment in hermetic bag by waiting 3 to 4 months before they sell their grain.

Despite the obvious benefits, creating the foundation for behavior change among small farmers is a long-term process and requires a long-term commitment. Sharing this effort among governments, donors, non-profits, international organizations and the technology providers is the key to catalyzing behavior change and improving the health, nutritional and financial outcomes for small farmers globally. 

And the right time to do this is now.

With increasing pressures to stop the use of dangerous pesticides on dry agricultural commodities, there is a clear desire among farmers for safer alternatives. Baraka Nurie and others in her neighborhood got it right when they decided to stop using chemicals and try out hermetic storage. Aside from the financial potential, they can be sure that their children are eating safe.

12 Years in a Cocoon™

12 years ago, large amounts of maize were stored in Ultra Hermetic™ GrainPro Cocoons™ by the Rwanda Ministry of Agriculture. Their goal was to determine how long the Cocoons can keep commodities safe from moisture ingress, infestation and fungal growth. 

This movie documents the result of the maize that were stored in Cocoons for 12 years in Rwanda.

The Cocoons were recently opened by local agriculture experts from the Ministry of Agriculture. Inside are well-preserved maize without infestation and fungal growth. While it's not advisable to preserve commodities for such an extended period of time, this is proof that GrainPro's Cocoon can safely preserve commodities for long periods and protect it from factors that could result to its deterioration. 

The testimonials in this movie are from actual witnesses and observers who were present when the Cocoons were opened.

• GrainPro does not recommend storing maize or any other dry agricultural commodity beyond its nutritional retention and prescribed storage periods. This test was conducted for scientific purposes only.

I was given the task of producing a short documentary about GrainPro's recent success in Rwanda, where the government stored thousands of tonnes of maize (corn) in 2002, and found it's still in good condition after 12 years of storage.

The original video from the Rwandan production team is in very poor quality. I had to overhaul the script, enhance the videos, add some effects, background music and animations, and re-dub the whole movie.

After producing this enhanced version, our executives at GrainPro were very pleased. Let's just say that they realized that we can produce professional-grade movies.