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On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods

Maize is the most important staple in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with highly seasonal production. High storage losses affect food security, but good estimations are lacking. A new method using focus group discussions (FGDs) was tested with 121 communities (1439 farmers, 52% women) in Kenya's six...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: De Groote, Hugo, Muteti, Francisca Ndinda, Bruce, Anani Y.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10285508/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37361490
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2023.102107
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author De Groote, Hugo
Muteti, Francisca Ndinda
Bruce, Anani Y.
author_facet De Groote, Hugo
Muteti, Francisca Ndinda
Bruce, Anani Y.
author_sort De Groote, Hugo
collection PubMed
description Maize is the most important staple in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with highly seasonal production. High storage losses affect food security, but good estimations are lacking. A new method using focus group discussions (FGDs) was tested with 121 communities (1439 farmers, 52% women) in Kenya's six maize-growing zones, to estimate the maize losses to storage pests and analyze farmer practices. As control strategies, half of the farmers used chemical pesticides (49%), while hermetic bags (16%) and botanicals (15%) were also popular. Relative loss from weevils in the long rains was estimated at 23%, in the short rains 18%, and annually 21%. Fewer farmers were affected by the larger grain borer (LGB) than by maize weevils: 42% in the long rainy season and 32% in the short rainy season; losses from LGB were also smaller: 19% in the long season, 17% in the short season, and 18% over the year. Total storage loss, from both species combined, was estimated at 36%, or 671,000 tonnes per year. The greatest losses occur in the humid areas, especially the moist mid-altitudes (56%), and with smaller loss in the drylands (20–23%). Extrapolating the point data and overlaying with the maize production map shows the geographic distribution of the losses, with the most important area found around Lake Victoria. FGDs provide convenient and cheap tools to estimate storage losses in representative communities, but a total loss estimate of 36% is higher than is found in other studies, so its accuracy and framing effects need to be assessed. We conclude that storage pests remain a major problem, especially in western Kenya, and that the use of environmentally friendly technologies such as hermetic storage and botanicals needs more attention, both by the public extension service and private agrodealers.
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spelling pubmed-102855082023-06-23 On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods De Groote, Hugo Muteti, Francisca Ndinda Bruce, Anani Y. J Stored Prod Res Article Maize is the most important staple in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with highly seasonal production. High storage losses affect food security, but good estimations are lacking. A new method using focus group discussions (FGDs) was tested with 121 communities (1439 farmers, 52% women) in Kenya's six maize-growing zones, to estimate the maize losses to storage pests and analyze farmer practices. As control strategies, half of the farmers used chemical pesticides (49%), while hermetic bags (16%) and botanicals (15%) were also popular. Relative loss from weevils in the long rains was estimated at 23%, in the short rains 18%, and annually 21%. Fewer farmers were affected by the larger grain borer (LGB) than by maize weevils: 42% in the long rainy season and 32% in the short rainy season; losses from LGB were also smaller: 19% in the long season, 17% in the short season, and 18% over the year. Total storage loss, from both species combined, was estimated at 36%, or 671,000 tonnes per year. The greatest losses occur in the humid areas, especially the moist mid-altitudes (56%), and with smaller loss in the drylands (20–23%). Extrapolating the point data and overlaying with the maize production map shows the geographic distribution of the losses, with the most important area found around Lake Victoria. FGDs provide convenient and cheap tools to estimate storage losses in representative communities, but a total loss estimate of 36% is higher than is found in other studies, so its accuracy and framing effects need to be assessed. We conclude that storage pests remain a major problem, especially in western Kenya, and that the use of environmentally friendly technologies such as hermetic storage and botanicals needs more attention, both by the public extension service and private agrodealers. Elsevier 2023-05 /pmc/articles/PMC10285508/ /pubmed/37361490 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2023.102107 Text en © 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
De Groote, Hugo
Muteti, Francisca Ndinda
Bruce, Anani Y.
On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods
title On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods
title_full On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods
title_fullStr On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods
title_full_unstemmed On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods
title_short On-farm storage loss estimates of maize in Kenya using community survey methods
title_sort on-farm storage loss estimates of maize in kenya using community survey methods
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10285508/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37361490
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2023.102107
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