Appendix 4.7: Chi square test for the relationship between farm households’ sizes and the types of storage methods that the farm households used to store maizetypes of storage methods that the farm households used to store maize
5.4 Discussion
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Table 5.12: Person(s) in charge of selecting storage methods in the farm households (n=260)
Table 5.13: Person responsible for building or preparing the storage facility for the household (n=260)
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loopholes for easy infestation of stored maize by rodents. The tendency for poor farmers in Africa to use storage methods that are inadequate to protect stored grain from rodents among other storage pests has been acknowledged (Payne, 2002). It is recommended that ways of equipping farm households in Katumba ward to improve the inadequacy of the storage structures be found.
Basically, in Rungwe district the roof storage method is a traditional technique which has been passed on from one generation to another, hence its use in Katumba ward. This perhaps contributes to the farm households’ reluctance to build maize storage facilities separate from the living houses. When using the roof storage the farm households expect the heat from the firewood that they burn in the houses for routine cooking to help dry the maize. The roofs of the houses were constructed using iron sheets, and the majority of the farm households depended on the heat that comes up when the corrugated iron sheets got hot as a result of exposure to the sun to assist with the drying of the stored maize. However, the fact that it took more than two weeks for the entire group of farm households to dry maize after harvest implies that the sources of heat for the farm households that stored maize in the roof storage facilities was inadequate to dry the maize within the 48 hours that Semple et al. (1992) recommends. This can lead to fungal and insect infestations of the maize. Thus, the farm households need to be informed regarding the negative implications that the roof storage method could have on stored maize and they should be encouraged to adopt better maize storage methods. The government could help the farm households by making available the resources for construction of good quality storage structures.
The above scenario applies to the farm households that dried maize in the sun for more than two weeks prior to storing the maize using the sack storage method. The sack storage method is commended for helping stored grain to lose moisture through ventilation (De Groote, 2004), which would somehow assist in controlling moisture problems, insect infestations and mould infections. However, even where the farm households rightly placed maize sacks on top of planks to prevent maize from absorbing moisture from the floor, the characteristics of the materials from which the storage facilities were made have the capacity to allow moisture from the storage areas to enter into the storage facilities, which would impact negatively on the moisture content of the stored maize. The high humidity perpetrated by the prolonged wetness and cool temperatures that
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characterize Katumba ward (Anon, 2008) and the low quality of the houses in which the majority of the farm households lived and stored maize would naturally lead to the atmosphere in the houses being humid. Rungwe district receives rainfall throughout the year in a range of 800 mm in the low land areas and up to 2,700 mm in the areas with higher altitude such as where Katumba ward is situated, (Meoweather, 2009). During the 2009 harvest season minimum and maximum temperatures in Katumba ward were 11.1 0C and 17.8, respectively, in February, whereas in March minimum and maximum temperatures were 10.8 0C and 18.9 0C, respectively.
On average, temperatures are coolest in May to July and slightly rises in August - December (Appendix 5.2) As a result, it took the farm households in Katumba ward longer to dry maize than recommended even where the roof of the house was made of corrugated iron sheets. The above would in turn create conditions favourable for growth of insect pests and moulds, which would have a negative impact on the quality of maize and household food security.
5.5.3 The influence of the form in which maize was stored on maize loss and on the length of time that it took the farm households to dry maize
It seems that for the majority of the farm households in Katumba ward the major concern was to get maize to dry while monitoring it for infestations. While the farm households who stored maize in the form of unshelled cobs without husks did so in order to easily monitor infestations and to assist the maize to dry faster, the fact that it took more than two weeks for the farm households to dry maize contradicts the farm households’ expectations. The practice of storing maize cobs in piles while they are not dry enough for storage has been identified as a risk factor which promotes fungal growth and mycotoxins contamination {Somali Agriculture Technical Group Training Guide (SATG), 2009}. Thus, the farm households’ practice of stacking maize cobs which are not dry enough for storage in the roof storage facilities exposed the maize to pests and mycotoxins contamination rather than protecting it. In general, storing maize in the form of unshelled cobs with husks is said to offer stored maize some protection from insect infestations (UNIFEM, 1995). However, as indicated above, the characteristics of the materials from which the storage facilities were made, the climatic conditions that are characterized with wetness in Katumba ward together with the fact that maize was not dry enough at harvest created conditions that encouraged infestations even on maize stored undehusked. There is also concern that maize cob storage promotes attack of the maize by Prostephanus truncatus, which prefer grain on cobs
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rather than shelled grain (Infonet-biovision, 2011), thus, causing greater damage and loss to the unshelled maize (FAO, 1994). Severe grain damage and loss of maize stored on cobs due to P.
truncatus (Richter et al., 1997) and S. cerealella (Nepal Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, 2006) were reported in Togo and Nepal, respectively. Thus, the practice of storing maize cobs in Katumba ward could attract attack of the maize by P. truncates. Finding an alternative method of drying maize prior to storage, and ensuring that maize is stored in the form of shelled grain could reduce the infestation prevalence for the farm households in Katumba ward.
5.4.4 Farm households’ perceptions concerning roof and sack storage methods’ capacity to protect stored maize from infestations
Perceptions by the majority of the farm households that both roof and sack storage methods offered stored maize poor protection against rodents can be due to the low quality of bricks that were used to build the houses in which the farm households stored maize. As indicated above, mud bricks are easy to break, thus, rodents can easily make holes through them and infest stored maize. Rodents do not only damage the maize kernels and make the infested maize susceptible to infestation by insect pests and moulds, but also make holes in the storage facilities, which in turn allow movement of moisture from outside into the storage facilities (De Groote, 2004). Thus, the use of the sack storage method for maize storage in mud brick houses exposes stored maize to rodent attack, which can lead to moisture content problems as well as insect and moulds infestations. Therefore, rodent proof structures that are sorely for maize storage are necessary for protecting stored maize from rodents in Katumba ward.
5.4.5 Key persons responsible for building or preparing the sack and roof storage technologies in Katumba ward
While more than half of the male household heads were the decision makers as far as selection of storage method was concerned, the total percentage of females who were also decision makers was less than one third of the overall percentage of the farm households that participated in this study. For more than 50 % of the households, males were involved in building or preparing the maize storage technologies, whereas less than 50 % of the females were involved in selecting the storage technologies. This was quite unbecoming considering the fact that women perform most of the activities involved with crop processing and storage in Rungwe district (Anon, 2008). For
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the improvement of maize storage in Katumba ward, all of the groups of people that play a role in selecting the storage method for use, building or preparing the storage facilities in the farm households in Katumba ward should be targeted. These include all of the male and female household heads, all of the female parents in male headed households and others such as male adults, where applicable.