What N2Africa learned about storage…
A short radio series called INUKA was developed to start conversations with bean farmers in Tanzania. It was broadcast on Radio Free Africa, a station with nationwide coverage in Tanzania. The fourth episode was broadcast onSunday June 28 , 2015 between 7:00 – 7:30pm. It was commissioned by N2Africa and production co-ordinated by Farm Radio International.
The poll question was designed to understand:
- Different methods currently used by farmers to store their beans.
- Different challenges facing farmers using respective storage methods.
A total of 1203 listeners participated in the poll.
Question 1: “What bean storage method are you currently using?”
- 641 (53%) of listeners said sacks
- 170 (14%) of listeners said plastic bags
- 1 3 0 (11%) of listeners said pots
- 67 (6%) of listeners said PICS bags
- 195 (16%) respondents mentioned other storage methods such as drying them on the floor, in silos, in barrels made of different materials from metal to cow dung as well as on mats and store them on the kitchen’s roof.
Majority of the respondents also said that they do use pesticides on beans as a storage method. Other mixed beans with either ashes or dust, they said, so that they cannot be affected by weevils.