The Nigeria Stored Products Research Institute, NSPRI, Thursday, gave hope to farmers and investors across various value chains in the agricultural sector by unveiling hermetic steel drums to drastically reduce post-harvest losses.
This was made known by the Executive Director, NSPRI, Dr. Patricia Pessu, at the Pacegate Limited and NSPRI Media Parley held via ZOOM. According to Pessu, the essence of the collaboration with Pacegate Limited was to enable farmers to reduce post-harvest losses and improve the quality of food Nigerians consume and export, as far as appropriate and standard food preservation is concerned.
She also expressed optimism that with the effort of the agency in collaboration with Pacegate Limited, farmers using the hermetic steel drums will record improvements in food safety, quality and profitability.
According to her, the first batch of the product has been rolled out to farmers across the country for usage. She disclosed that NSPRI has commenced the use of hermetic steel drums for storage of dried durable products. Hermetic storage is a method of using sealed, airtight units to control moisture and insects in the storage of dried agricultural commodities. The hermetic storage restricts gas exchanges between the internal and external environments and the stored commodity, maintaining the initial levels of moisture and controlling pests by the lack of oxygen. Vanguard