Preventing Crop Loss through Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) Bags

The Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag provides low-cost, hermetic grain-storage bags that prevent pest damage during crop storage without having to use chemicals. These bags allow farmers to consume or sell crops later in the season when prices might be higher, increasing food security and offering a healthier alternative to chemical pesticide.  When using PICS bags, farmers no longer need chemicals to control grain storage pests. PICS bag was developed by Purdue University and supported by USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

PICS bags was formerly Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage bags (PICS 1) which was originally meant to provide a simple, low-cost method of reducing post-harvest cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) losses due to bruchid infestations in West and Central Africa.  

Irrigating Africa with Sunflower Solar Irrigation

In sub-Saharan Africa, access to irrigation is a major limit in agriculture. Only 7% of the total cultivated area of 183 million hectares in Africa is irrigated compared to 41% in Asia. This is by far the lowest proportion of irrigation anywhere in the world.

There are about 500 million one-acre farmers around the world and about half of them are in Africa. Crop production in Africa is rain-fed and since rainfall has become very unpredictable due to climate change, farm productivity is on decline as small scale farmers cannot afford the labour intensive manual irrigation or the expensive fuel powered irrigation pumps.