Innovative farmer uses pounded maize cobs to protect stored maize

| January 16, 2017

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Farmers experience huge losses after harvesting cereals in general, and after harvesting maize in particular. Between planting and the time when the ear emerges from its sheath, maize is a target for many fungal diseases, insect pests, birds, and rodents. If the farmer is able to avoid all those difficulties, the harvest is very good and promises better days for the whole family.

However, the farmer often loses the whole harvest because of damage caused by weevils during storage. Weevils are insects with drill-like mouth parts. Once they have made a hole in a kernel, they store their eggs inside it. After hatching, the larvae feed on the kernel. They emerge from the kernel at the adult stage. The adult insects lay their eggs in another maize kernel, and the cycle begins again.

At the end of this process, the farmer is left with a sack of maize emptied of its nutritional value and that cannot be planted.

This radio script discusses an option for managing weevils in stored maize.

http://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-resource-packs/package-90/innovative-farmer-uses-pounded-maize-cobs-to-protect-stored-maize/