Charles Bett , Hugo De Groote, Clare Narrod Clare and Rosemarie Scott

Aflacontrol Conference, November 30, 2011, Southern Sun Hotel, Nairobi

Economic importance of different maize storage structures in Kenya

International Food Policy Research Institute International Center for the Improvement of Maize

and Wheat International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics University of Pittsburgh

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences ACDI/VOCA/Kenya Maize Development Program Kenya Agricultural Research Institute Institut d’Economie Rurale The Eastern Africa Grain Council

Most maize in Kenya is produced and consumed on-farm thus the need for storage structures.

Farmers stock the highest amounts of maize, followed by traders, NCPB and then

Millers (Table 1) By region, the Rift Valley province, stocks the highest quantities compared to

other provinces.

To safeguard the maize with the farmers from damage or contamination by diseases (e.g., aflatoxin) pests and theft there is need for improved storage facilities.

Thus this study was undertaken with an objective of describing the current storage practices, facilities and determining their economic importance.

Region Farmers (tons)

Traders (tons)

NCPB (tons)

Millers' (tons) Total

% of total

Pop. (2009 Census)

Rift Valley 1,060,341 172,498 - 81,777 1,314,616 61 10,006,805

NCPB - - 266,681 - 266,681 12 Eastern 133,337 72,286 - 8,914 214,537 10 5,668,123

Nyanza 129,958 46,630 - 2,048 178,636 8 5,442,711

Coast 73,490 10,587 - 4,729 88,806 4 3,324,805

Central 53,350 23,620 - 10,850 87,820 4 4,383,743

Nairobi 91 2,929 - 7,828 10,848 0 3,138,369

Western 5,844 423 - 3,870 10,137 0 4,334,282 North Eastern 46 369 - 31 446 0 2,311,259

Total 1,456,457 329,341 266,681 120,047 2,172,526 100 38,610,097

% of total 67 15 12 6 100

A multi stage sampling procedure

List of sub-locations (Census 2009) obtained from KNBS

Used proportion to size methodology to select sub-locations

Preparatory visits were made to the selected sub-locations where the sampling frame dawn.

12 farmers was randomly selected from each sub-location A 50% percent were selected as the replacement households.

Target sample 1452 – Achieved – 1344

Data collection - October 2010 to January 2011.

Number of

sublocations

Number of

households per

sublocaton

Number of

household

s

Number of

sublocations

Number of

households

per

sublocaton

Number of

households

Lowland Tropics 15 12 180 15 6 90

Dry mid-altitudes 18 12 216 17 12 204

Dry transitional 18 12 216 18 12 215

Moist Transitional 30 12 360 30 12 355

Moist Mid-altitudes 20 12 240 20 12 240

Highlands 20 12 240 20 12 240

total 121 1452 1344

Design Realized

Maize Zones Low Tropics (LT)

▪ Coast Province

Dry Medium Altitude (DM) ▪ Eastern Province

Dry Transitional (DT) ▪ Eastern Province

Moist Transitional (MT) ▪ Central and Eastern Provinces

High Tropics (HT) ▪ Rift Valley and Central Provinces

Moist Medium Altitude (MM) ▪ Western and Nyanza Provinces

Long term storage facilities Separate housing for storage

Improved granary

Silo

Large pots

Traditional crib

Living house for storage

Short term storage facilities

Polypropylene

sisal bags

Baskets

Improved granary

An improved granary - made of wooden wall with supporting poles or stones and roofed with iron sheets.

In the study 12% of the sampled

households were using the improved granary mainly in the LT, HT and MT maize zones.

Granary has good ventilation and aeration thus discourages growth of moulds.

Metal Silo An improved maize storage container

made of metal sheet.

Maize stored in the metal silo is not attacked by pests and is less infested by moulds.

Aflatoxin levels reduced by 60% on average.

Only 0.38% of HH reported use from two maize zones, DT and DM.

Major disadvantage - High cost and the limited storage capacity

Large pots Large pots are multipurpose storage facilities made

of hardened clay through heating for several hours. Less than 2% of the sampled households reported

using pots for maize storage.

Major disadvantage – fragility and limited capacity.

Traditional crib

A traditional storage structure made of local material available in a particular region.

6.5% of the respondents were using the traditional crib mainly in the DT (3.39%) and DM (2.17%)

Cheap to construct, good ventilation and aeration thus reduces mouldy growths.

Disadvantage - Insecure and requires seasonal repairs.

Living house for storage One room in the main house set aside for maize

storage.

Reason : Security

This trend is common in the DT (15.54%), MT (11.86%) and LT (11.58%)

Major disadvantage: May encourage growth of

moulds and likelihood of aflatoxin infection due to high moisture in the house

Sisal bags Short duration storage facilities

used widely in Kenya till the introduction of plastic bags.

In this survey only about 9% still use the bags with LT leading.

Polypropylene bags Short duration plastic bags widely

used in Kenya.

Sizes range from 25 - 100kg bags.

Average costs - Kshs 25 – 50 per piece a price affordable to most farmers.

In this study close to 90% of the

farmers were using them with the DM (17.6%0), DT (21.28%) and MT (17.5%) reporting the highest usage.

Baskets A traditional facility made of reeds through weaving.

The facility is temporary storage for maize before

transferring to more permanent structures or when preparing to take the maize for milling or sale.

Used mainly in the DT, DM and MT while lowest usage was reported in the LT (0.28%).

Advantage: Good ventilation and aeration thus may not be conducive for mouldy growths.

Disadvantage: Limited capacity and not for large maize quantities

Agro

ecologic

al zone

Separate

housing

Improved

granary

(wooden)

Room in

house

Improved

granary

(wicker

wall)

Traditional

crib (flat

bottom)

Tradition

al crib

(round

bottom)

Silo Fire

place Basket

Large

pot

LT 3,761 5,062 2,755 3,406 1,668 1,353 0 481 10 36

DM 1,220 5,676 2,456 1,184 2,201 1,747 1,675 1,179 99 36

DT 5,227 2,070 2,398 1,080 1,103 1,258 338 18 50 42

MT 16,348 8,545 4,534 8,100 2,353 1,470 0 0 64 60

HT 21,600 8,205 4,359 3,600 3,793 0 0 0 0 0

Overall

avge

stored 10,156 6,713 3,082 2,511 2,063 1,445 1,006 912 55 43

Avge

value

stored

(Kshs) 406,220 268,526 123,295 100,444 82,521 57,788 40,250 36,466 2,196 1,726

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

sep. Hsing Trad. crib(RB)

Trad. Crib(FB)

Impr. Wdnstore

Fire place Room in hse Impr. wickerstore

Basket Metal silo

Cost ofstoring maizein differentmaize stoargefacilitiesOverall

Declining use of storage structures . Separate housing for storage is the most important in terms

of quantity and value of maize stored and also in terms of cost of maize stored per ton .

Important factors to consider in choice and dissemination of storage facilities: Ventilation Security (both against theft and mouldiness

There is need to enhance the security features of improved

granary if it is to replace the preferred separate structures which tends to be closed with little air circulation and could increase aflatoxin contamination.

We acknowledge the following institutions and partners for the roles they played in making the study successful: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) for channelling

the funds for the survey and technical support,

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) for implementing the survey and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) for technical back-up and advice.

Bill and Melinda Gates for providing the funds to IFPRI for the survey.

18 enumerators and 3 supervisors for their role in data collection

Data entry clerks for their role in data inputting,

The provincial administration for their role in sampling, and

Respondents for their willingness to participate in the survey.