A presentation on "Farmers’ grain storage and losses in Ethiopia: Measures and associates" was given by Fantu Nisrane Bachewe of IFPRI-ESSP at the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) on October 20, 2017. The study explores farmers’ storage decisions and self-reported storage losses for grains based on two recent large-scale household surveys conducted in major agricultural areas in Ethiopia. The study shows that a relatively large share of grain production is stored by farm households themselves, mainly for own consumption and that storage technologies are rudimentary. Farmers’ self-reported storage losses amount to an average of 4 percent of all grains stored and 2 percent of the total harvest. These storage losses are shown to differ significantly by socio-economic variables and wealth but also by crop and humidity. The study also indicates strong spatial heterogeneity in storage losses, being significantly higher in the southwestern part of the country. Efforts to scale up the adoption of improved storage technologies to reduce storage losses at the farm level should best take into consideration these characteristics.
This presentation was organized by ESSP and EDRI. ESSP is a collaborative program undertaken by IFPRI and EDRI, whose objective is to help improve the policy-making decision process in Ethiopia.
Please subscribe to receive regular updates on ESSP’s work and its quarterly newsletter.
Keep updated with cutting edge research from Ethiopia.
