Profitable chemical-free cowpea storage technology for smallholder farmers in Africa: opportunities and challenges

Cowpea is the most economically and nutritionally important indigenous African grain legume, grown by millions of resource-poor farmers. It is a key cash crop in areas too dry to grow cotton or other export crops. Most of the over 3 million t of cowpea grain produced annually in West and Central Africa is grown on small farms. Storage is often identified as the key challenge for small scale cowpea growers. Many farmers sell cowpea grain at low harvest time prices rather than risk losses by bruchids during storage. Some traditional methods are effective for small quantities (e.g., 10 kg), but are difficult to scale up. Some effective storage chemicals are available, but they are regularly misused by farmers and merchants. The Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) Project is addressing these problems through promotion of hermetic storage in triple layer sacks which have an outer layer of woven polypropylene and two liners of 80 μ high-density polyethylene. Village demonstrations with more than 45, 000 PICS sacks have shown the technology to be effective. Good quality affordable sacks have been produced by manufacturers in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali. Over the past three years more than one million sacks have been produced and sold. Despite the success with the outreach activities and the farmer adoption, the challenge remains to develop sustainable sack distribution networks. Issues identified include reluctance of wholesalers to order sacks due to risk associated with a new product, inability of wholesalers to develop effective distribution networks due to difficulties with enforcing contracts, and limited access to capital. The PICS project is exploring new ways to address some of these issues, including using non-traditional distribution systems for PICS sacks such as agro-dealers networks, and adapting distribution systems that have worked for cell phones and other products. Keywords: Cowpea, Bruchids, Hermetic storage, Supply chain, West and Central Afric

Management lessons learned in supply chain development: the experience of PICS bags in West and Central Africa

In order to facilitate the transformation of African agriculture, Africa’s smallholders will require more and better access to input markets that deliver context-specific and well adapted innovations. This article summarizes the management lessons learned in developing supply chains for Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags in West and Central Africa. PICS bags are hermetic grain storage bags that are leading a revolution in the post-harvest handling of grain on smallholder farmers in Africa. The bags have been very popular with farmers, but the major challenge has been developing supply chains to make those bags available for purchase at the village level. This article: (1) describes the PICS supply chain in West and Central Africa; (2) identifies constraints (i.e. financial, structural, social) that impede the development of the PICS supply chain; and (3) analyzes strategies used by businesses to expand distribution channels and increase bag sales

Effects of PICS bags on insect pests of sorghum during long-term storage in Burkina Faso

The PICS bags, originally developed for cowpea storage, were evaluated for sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) preservation. Batches of 25 kg of sorghum grain were stored in 50 kg PICS or polypropylene (PP) bags under ambient conditions for 12 months and assessed for the presence of insect pests and their damage, seed viability and, oxygen and carbon dioxide variations. The grain was incubated for 35 days to assess whether any insects would emerge. After six months of storage, oxygen levels decreased in the PICS bags compared to polypropylene bags. After 12 months of storage, only two pests, Rhyzopertha dominica and Sitophilus zeamais were found in the PICS bags. However, in PP bags there were additional pests including Tribolium castaneum and Oryzeaphilus mercator and Xylocoris flavipes. Grain weight loss and damage caused by these insects in the PP bags were significantly higher compared to those stored in PICS bags. Germination rates of sorghum grains stored in PP bags decreased significantly while no changes were observed in grains stored in PICS bags when compared to the initial germination. After the incubation post storage period, there was a resurgence of R. dominica in sorghum grains from PICS bags but the population levels were significantly lower compared to polypropylene bags. PICS bags preserved the quality and viability of stored sorghum grains and protected it from key insect pests. The PICS technology is effective for long-term sorghum storage but the potential resurgence of insects in low-oxygen environment calls for further research

Adoption of onfarm hermetic storage for cowpea in West and Central Africa in 2012

This study is based on interviews with 3456 randomly selected cowpea farmers in 322 villages in ten countries in West and Central Africa in 2010 and 2012. It uses descriptive statistics to track the trends in adoption of cowpea storage technology compared to previous studies and Firth logistic regression to identify important factors in adoption. The interviews indicate that regionally about 46% of respondents use some type of hermetic storage for their cowpeas and about 44% of the quantity of cowpea stored on farms is in hermetic containers. Both the percentage of respondents and the percentage of stored quantity fall slightly short of the 50% benchmark hypothesized. The 2010e2012 estimates compare to about 30% of cowpea quantity stored in hermetic containers in 2003e2004. Regionally, the most commonly used hermetic storage container is the triple layer Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) bag. In PICS villages, local unavailability is the most common reason for not using the bags. The logit analysis shows that living in a village with PICS activities is the single most important factor explaining adoption of the technology. In six of the nine regressions participation in the demonstrations was also positive and a statistically significant determinant of adoption. For someone living in a PICS village and participating in the activities the combined effect is highly influential. In Niger such an individual would be 27% more likely than a non-participant from a non-PICS village to use PICS bags. In Senegal he or she would be 55% more likely. Some form of exposure to PICS activities or village technicians is key in adoption of the PICS technologies, though it may not be direct contact with a PICS technician. On average additional cash flow due to storage of cowpea in PICS bags is estimated at $26.58/100 kg bag more than sale at harvest

Assessing the reuse of PICS bags in Jigawa, Kano, and Katsina States of northern Nigeria

In 2010, a survey was carried out in Jigawa, Kano and Katsina States to ascertain the level of reuse of the Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) bags (technique for cowpea storage) among 2008 users. The PICS project has ecommended to farmers to reuse their PICS bags as long as they are not punctured. Survey results suggest that the majority of farmers (both demonstrators-DF [farmers that were used in the initial demonstrations] and ondemonstrators-NDF, those who bought PICS bags without participating in demonstrations) were reusing their PICS bags (66.2%, i.e., 90 respondents out of 136) for cowpea storage in 2009, while the remaining 33.8% (i.e., 46 respondents) reused their bags for other purposes such as storage of other crops, as bedding and roofing material, and given out to others. Among the reusers, 68.9% (62 respondents out of 90) were demonstrators and 31.1% (28 respondents) were nondemonstrators. To ascertain the determinants of reuse of PICS bags, a Logit model was fitted on the data with independent variables such as Farmer type, Age, Gender, Household size, Education, Membership of association, and quantity of cowpea harvested. The result on determinants of reuse of PICS for cowpea storage was significant at 1% level of probability. The result revealed, among others, that the probability of reusing the bag for cowpea storage statistically increased if the user was a demonstrator, an experienced farmer (age), male (gender), a member of a farmers’ association; the quantity of cowpea harvested aso affected reuse

Impact of improved hermetic storage on food insecurity and poverty of smallholder cowpea farmers in northwestern Nigeria

Published online: 07 Dec 2022Postharvest loss of cowpea grains due to insect pests like cowpea bruchids is a common problem in Nigeria and has often exacerbated the food insecurity and poverty of households. In a bid to protect their cowpea grains, farmers’ indiscriminate use of insecticides (often misused and overused) has had a negative impact on human health and the environment. Efforts to promote the use of non-chemical hermetic storage have sought to address the issue. This study, therefore, examined the impact of a chemical-free, hermetic storage method, the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags, on food insecurity and poverty of smallholder cowpea farmers in Northwestern Nigeria. Household food expenditure analysis revealed that PICS adopters had higher food security than non-adopters. Similarly, poverty analysis showed that PICS adopters had a lower poverty incidence than non-adopters. Government and development agencies should, therefore, promote the use of PICS to improve food security and reduce poverty among cowpea farmers in Nigeria

Market building for postharvest technology through largescale extension efforts

Early viewThe Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) technology has been disseminated in 30,896 villages in 10different countries in West and Central Africa from 2007 to 2012. Extension and supply chain devel-opment efforts were required to make the PICS technology available to millions of farmers and otherusers. Several research and development organizations assisted in awareness building activities todevelop the market and increase access. Thousands of village and market demonstrations were imple-mented byfield technicians and supported by media activities. Supply chain development activities wereled by the private sector with some support from the project. Overall, 40e70 adults attended demon-strations in each village, among which 38% were women. Large-scale extension activities substantiallyincreased the demand for the technology and helped establish the supply chain. More than 2.4 milliontriple bags were sold in thefirst 5 years of the project. In some countries, up to 50% of bags orderedduring thefirst year were bought by farmers; even though village demonstrations had not yet beencompleted. Market building activities helped convince the private sector that there were business op-portunities in buying and selling PICS bags. Bags ordered by the private sector went from 0% in 2007 to200% in 2010, proving that it is possible to commercialize a new agricultural technology in developingcountries in a relatively short time

Adoption of PICS bags in Northern Nigeria: a case study of Jigawa, Kano, and Katsina States

Cowpea is a key cash crop and also a staple food for millions of people in West and Central Africa. Cowpea trade is severely hampered by storage insects especially the cowpea weevil. The Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) project was started in Nigeria in 2008 on a pilot basis in the states of Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, and Plateau. It has since June 2009 been extended to all 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory. The PICS project has introduced hermetic storage in triple layer sacks (PICS bags) which have an outer layer of woven polypropylene and two liners of 80 micron high density polyethylene capable of protecting stored cowpeas. The main objective of the PICS is to transfer this technology while helping the establishment of a sustainable supply chain for the production and distribution of PICS bags in Nigeria. IITA and Agricultural Development Programs (ADPs) from those states have conducted public demonstrations in some villages in the pilot states. A survey was conducted in 2009 in Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states in both demonstration villages and non-demonstration villages. Results indicate a relatively good adoption rate of 21.4% in the general population after just one season of demonstrations in Nigeria. Among farmers who attended village demonstrations, the adoption rate was even higher at 43%; it was even higher for pilot farmers at about 64% of the sample. Based on probit regression results, key factors influencing adoption of PICS bags were found to include: being from a demonstration village (P = 5%), attendance of village demonstration (P = 1%), and other information variables such as being a member of an association (P = 1%), having access to radio messages (P = 1%), and cowpea production (P = 1%). The major problem across the board was that the bag was not readily available in the villages. Therefore, continued development of the supply chain to ensure avaialbility of bags in villages will be essential for the future of this technology in Nigeria