TB 104 Post Harvest Solutions in Food Security

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Eighty percent of African farmers are small holder subsistence farmers. In numbers this means that each one farms a couple of acres to feed themselves. 

Grain or beans are harvested and dried, and then a race begins, as stored grains are prone to infestation with insects and fungi. Some fungal invasions produce aflatoxins, potent carcinogens. 

Small farmers also sell grain, but when they are selling, so are their neighbors.  Prices are low, and they frequently buy back their grain at a higher price.  

The solution is effective storage, and hermetically sealed (airtight) storage retards the growth of any organism that could damage the seeds.  

Today's podcast is about that storage. It is an interview with Brett Rierson and how different solutions are distributed by the World Food Programme. 

It also reminds us that sometimes the best solution is the most low-tech solution. 

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