The Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) has distributed 1,000 hermetic storage drums to smallholder farmers in Borno State as part of efforts to reduce post-harvest losses and enhance food security.
This was disclosed by Professor Lateef Sanni, Executive Director of NSPRI, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the second Post-Harvest Connect Conference and National Cassava Conference, held in Abuja.
Sanni explained that the intervention aims to not only mitigate losses after harvest but also improve the livelihoods of farmers and contribute to national food sustainability.
The hermetic drums are among several post-harvest technologies developed by NSPRI, which include tomato crates, NSPRI Dust—a non-chemical storage solution—and other innovations.
“We have quite a lot of interventions that people do not know, like tomato crates, which took nearly a decade and a half to perfect.
“We also have NSPRI Dust and the hermetic drums, of which 1,000 have just been delivered to Borno State,” Sanni said.
He noted that NSPRI’s core mandate is to enhance the efficiency of post-harvest handling and storage of agricultural commodities, thereby reducing losses and strengthening food security across the country.
Sanni highlighted the importance of collaboration, stating that the institute is working closely with state agricultural development programmes and increasingly with private extension agents to expand outreach to grassroots farmers.
He emphasized that tackling post-harvest challenges requires collective responsibility and called on private sector players to support the scaling of post-harvest technologies.
NSPRI, a Federal Government agency, is tasked with conducting research into post-harvest handling and storage, developing appropriate technologies, and disseminating findings to farmers, produce handlers, and agro-industrial stakeholders.
NAN