Private sector & Post Harvest Management among smallholder farmers “The experience of PICS bag project” Jean Njiru Supply Chain Network Manager East and Southern Africa PICS 3 Project

“It does little good to teach farmers how to use a technology if they cannot find it in local markets”

Supply Chain Development Purdue Improved Crop Storage (Pics Bags)

Background Purdue University is implementing PICS 3 project – Commercialization of Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags for grain storage Five year project Funded by Bell and Melinda Gates Foundation – Overall project objective is to reduce grain storage losses by increasing the use of hermetic technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa Covers seven countries in West Africa, East and Southern Africa – Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi

PICS3 Project Activities Market development activities – Awareness building through village demonstrations – Awareness building through media Radio and TV, posters, video &documentaries Supply chain development activities – Manufacturing and distribution of the PICS bags

Approach for village demonstrations Partners e.g. CRS, Clusa, IITA etc Training of Trainers – Extension Agents Training of farmers – Pre-awareness meeting – Demonstration – Follow up – Open the bag ceremony

What are PICS bags? Cowpea storage in triple layer plastic bags was developed by a team of Purdue and Cameroonian researchers in the late 1990s

Growing interest in hermetic methods PICS Bags Metal silo 5 MT Cocoon SuperGrainbag

Benefits of PICS 1) Income – Sell later when prices are higher 2) Health from chemical-free storage 3) Food for home consumption – Food security 4) Seed

PICS efforts in Africa Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage Private Sector -Manufacturers -Ag input dealers Intl.& local NGO NARS & Extension FBOs, Women’s group and Farmers IARC- Purdue Improved Crop Storage- PICS Purdue Improved Crop Storage- PICS

Availability & access of PICS bags by smallholder farmers The role of the private sector Manufacturers, distributors, agrodealers, Media –radio, TV, ICT-sms etc

Supply Chain Farmers

Purdue University Farmers Farmers Organisations Volume buyers Grain traders Supply chain Supply bags- Supply chain Awareness Create demand- AwarenessBuilding Distributors Semi-wholesalers Manufacturers Vendors Sustaining Availability of Crop Storage Technology

Manufacturers of PICS Bags East and Southern Africa Tanzania – PPTL in Tanga Uganda – Luuka Plastics in Kampala Malawi – Polypack in Blantyre Ethiopia SEPCO and EFGAM in AA Others – Kenya – Bell Industries Ltd – Rwanda - Ecoplastics West Africa Nigeria – Lela Agro in Kano Burkina Faso Supplied by Lela Agro Ghana – Polytank in Accra

PICS Bag Supply Chain Developed from Project to Private Sector 15  Reached villages+++  Over 200,000 households tested bag  2 million farmers trained in WCA  4.6 million bags sold since 2007

Key constraints to adoption of triple layer bags

Lessons learned Adoption of technology: Areas with effective supply chain developed by the private sector have the highest adoption rates. Awareness building (market development): The private sector will produce and sell the bags if there is demand. Local manufacturing: Reduces costs and gets political support. Pilot programs: Enables PICS to learn and adjust our strategy to best engage farmers, partners, and the private sector to increase adoption. Local partnerships are critical to PICS success: o National Ag Research and Extension builds trust and confidence with smallholder farmers o Local media is critical for communication with smallholder farmers

Supply chain development by the private sector is key to sustained adoption of crop storage technologies.

QUESTIONS THANK YOU