Abstract
This survey study was conducted in two districts of the Jimma zone from April to July 2020 in the community of farmers who store maize and sorghum. While in Ethiopia, like in other east African countries, Maize and sorghum were an important postharvest chain for food security and income sources for small-scale rural farmers. Yet, there is a high postharvest loss of grains due to poor storage handling, storage practice, and pest infestations. And therefore, this survey study was aimed at assessing grain storage duration and level of pest infestations in selected districts of Jimma zone, Ethiopia. Two districts, Tiro Afeta and Sokoru, were selected based on the production potential of maize and sorghum grain crops. Then, three Kebeles were randomly taken from each district. Finally, two of the district's 6 Kebeles with a total of 333 households storing maize and sorghum were interviewed, while limited farmers in Tiro Afeta and Sokoru districts store sorghum 4.9% and 60.7%, respectively, for more than one year, and the current finding indicates that as long storage time, there is a prospect to be mold infestation.
Highlights
Cereal grain plays a vital role in food security and as an income source for millions of people in Ethiopia
Poor storage handling and storage pests lead to high postharvest loss [1]
Most of the farmers in the survey districts stored their grain for almost more than 6 months but less than 1 year. This may be due to the fact that they rely on the lower susceptibility of maize and sorghum stored to induce pest infestation
Summary
Poor storage handling and storage pests lead to high postharvest loss [1]. The reason behind such serious attack of grains in storage in Ethiopia has been reported to be the use of poor traditional storage facilities by farmers and shortage of storage technologies that allow insect pests, fungi, and other vertebrate pests to infest and reproduce on grain [1, 2]. Damage done by insect pests encourages infection with bacterial and fungal diseases through the transmission of their spores. They give off moisture which can cause grain moisture contents to increase enough to create a mold problem. The objective of this is study was focused on assessments of farmer’s perceptions on maize and sorghum storage duration and level of pest infestations in Sokoru and Tiro Afeta districts of Jimma zone, Oromia regional state, Ethiopia
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