Effective Grain Storage for Better Livelihoods of African Farmers Project: Completion report June 2008 to February 2011

Abstract

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has implemented the project entitled “Effective Grain Storage for Sustainable Livelihood of African Farmers”, with a funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), June 2008 to February 2011. The project successfully introduced the development and deployment of metal silo technology in Kenya (Embu and Homa Bay districts) and Malawi (Dowa and Mchinij districts), in collaboration with Catholic diocese of Embu and Homa Bay in Kenya and World Vision International in Malawi. The project targeted training of farmers, trainers, and artisans in metal silo construction in order to provide farmers with better alternative storage solutions. In collaboration with the SDC, training of trainers was performed through the South-South Cooperation in 2009. The trainers came from El Salvador, travelled to pilot areas in Kenya and Malawi and trained trainers, artisans on how to fabricate and handle the metal silo. A total of 4 trainers and 41 artisans were trained so far in Kenya and Malawi; and a total of 45 and 105 metal silos of various capacities were produced and distributed to farmers in Malawi and Kenya, respectively. Though the metal silo technology was primarily targeted for the benefit of smallholder farmers, schools and urban communities in the two countries are also using the metal silos. This helped them to buy grains at peak harvest time when prices are low, and to use it throughout the year. As a result, several countries and organizations in Africa have shown interest or engaged in metal silo production and dissemination. The metal silo was promoted through demonstrations and the media, which directly and indirectly created a critical mass among the stakeholders, including farmers, technicians, artisans, NGOs, government line ministries and consumers in general.