Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications
Campus Units
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Food Science and Human Nutrition
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
8-2016
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Stored Products and Postharvest Reserach
Volume
7
Issue
6
First Page
53
Last Page
60
DOI
10.5897/JSPPR2015.0198
Abstract
Affordable, pesticide-free, and reliable maize storage containers for seed and food purposes are not available in many subsistence farming cultures. As a result, subsistence farmers lose their crop to pests and are forced to dispose of their maize for a low price right after harvest thus, robbing them of profit and food for the rest of the year. The objective of this research was to develop information to enable utilization of recycled sanitary hermetic maize storage containers. Use of these containers will allow farmers to preserve their maize for as long as they wish, using locally available resources. A market survey found edible oil containers available for sale and re-use in markets in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. A laboratory study compared three cleaning methods (oil drain+45°C water(A), oil drain+ 90 to 100°C water(B), oil drain+ 90 to 100°C water + soap(C)) for cleaning soybean oil contaminated 20 L HDPE containers. Research results, indicate that using “C” will clean the containers to a cleanliness level comparable to a new container. This is an encouraging result in light of the edible oil containers available for sale and re-use in East African markets. A Ugandan field study also tested the efficacy of recycled containers for hermetic storage, and confirmed that hermetic storage using these containers is lethal to maize weevils, while preserving the quality of stored maize.
Access
Open
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Owner
The authors
Copyright Date
2016
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Yakubu, A.; Wilson, L. A.; Bern, C. J.; and Brumm, T. J., "Use of recycled containers for hermetic maize storage In East Africa" (2016). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 773.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/773
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Food Science Commons
Comments
This article is from Journal of Stored Products and Postharvest Research 7 (2016): 53–60, doi:10.5897/JSPPR2015.0198 . Posted with permission.