Hermetic Storage Technology to Reduce Postharvest Loss of Paddy: Farmers to Commercial Scale

Paddy is one of the paramount food crops in Bangladesh. Farmers use Dole, Gola, Auri, Plastic bag, Jute bag, Plastic drum, and Motka as traditional storage structures for storing paddy seed and grain, and incur significant loss. Public and private sector commercial actors also store paddy grain and seed in jute bag. In this study, improved hermetic GrainPro bag and Cocoon were introduced to farmers and public-private sector actors' level, respectively. More than 2000 farmers received GrainPro bag and training from PHLIL-Bangladesh project. Highest insect infestation (157/250 g) was found in traditional Motka and no insect in GrainPro bag. Weight loss and germination rate in Motka and GrainPro bag were found 1.6%, 65% and 0.15%, 92%, respectively. Similarly, performances of hermetic cocoon were evaluated in the warehouses of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and in a commercial Rice Mill. Moisture content and germination rate of paddy seed stored in jute bag in BADC warehouses fluctuated with ambient conditions, however those were found unchanged in cocoon. Higher germination rates (91%) were retained in paddy seed stored in cocoon over traditional storage in gunny bag (84.25%). Hermetic storage technologies also eliminated the application of harmful insecticides and pesticides during storage. Hermetic GrainPro bag and Cocoon are found financially feasible and recommended to use for paddy seed and grain storage in Bangladesh at farmers and commercial scale, respectively.