Researchers develop pest repulsive gunny bags for cereals

Agricultural researchers have developed a pest-free gunny bag to avert post-harvest losses farmer incur during storage of cereals.

This is expected to improve the income of farmers who opt to withhold their harvest to fetch better prices and at same time guarantees the food and nutritional security of the country during tough times.

Paddy Likhayo, a researcher at the department of Entomology at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, said the government has been promoting and educating small-scale farmers on the hermetic bags to reduce post-harvest losses.

Hermetic bags prevent air or water from getting into stored cereals and are able to preserve the grains from pests by depleting oxygen supply levels and producing carbon dioxide.

“We generally lose production to pests more so when we talk about our staple food, maize. We lose between 35 to 40 per cent of produce, yet there are various methods of controlling the pests,” he said.

Likhayo said hermetic technologies as an alternative to traditional and chemical control methods have gained significant interest among farmers, the private sector and governments.

He said there are several hermetic technologies including metallic and plastic silos, woven polypropylene bags and plastic bags that come in different forms and sizes.

However, Likhayo said not all of them can prevent pests such as rodents from attacking cereals.

“Rodents are one of the major storage pests in on-farm maize storage and a significant cause of post-harvest losses with a significant impact on grain safety,” he said.

Likhayo said the emerging technology that KALRO has partnered with the private sector to work on is to develop a plastic liner that is put inside the bag impregnated with a chemical to repel rodents.

“We have verified the new technology using farmers in Nakuru, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia and in Nandi counties," he said.

He said they supplied the farmers with more than 100 bags and about 60 per cent of them repelled rodents.

Likhayo said the hermetic bags were stored side by side with ordinary bags to show the effects. 

He said new technology will be unveiled in the next one or two months to solve the two problems of rodents and insect pests.

There are only five authorised manufacturers of certified hermetic technology bags namely, Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS), ZeroFly Storage Bags, Elite Storage Bags, GrainPro Storage Bags and AgroZ Storage Bags.

“The brand will be known as ‘Rodent Repellent Hermetic bag’ and although it will cost a bit more than the other five brands in the market because of the raw material imported, it will still be within the limit and a farmer will be able to afford,” Likhayo said.

“At the moment the other five brand bags cost between Sh250 and Sh300 with a lifespan of three years. The rodent repellent bag, which will be the sixth in the country, has a lifespan of four years."

He said the cost benefit analysis shows that hermetic bags are worth investing in and will save the country a lot of money spent on importing grains to meet the deficit.

He urged farmers to contact manufacturers of the bags and also form groups for easy access and delivery of the hermetic bags.

“KALRO centres all over the country have the new Mkulima Shops and we will work out on modalities with the private sector on how the farmers can access the bags and help in distribution,” Likhayo said.

The use of hermetic bags to store grain has significantly increased in the past 10 years.

The adoption of hermetic bags is driven by factors such as the severity of storage losses at the farm level, the efficacy of the technologies, and other benefits such as being chemical-free, cost effective, easy to use and locally available.

According to experts, the introduction of hermetic bags to the farmers will help them to store their harvests for extended periods.