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Due to postharvest losses, related to gaps in the proper storage of produce, Nigeria loses as much as 50 percent of its onion harvests.
However, recently farmers have been embracing the Artificially Aerated Onion Storage Technology (AAOST), which is designed to increase the shelf life of harvests, and, ultimately, farmers’ income.
First piloted by SAA-Nigeria under the Kano State Agropastoral Development Project (KSADP), the technology has been widely accepted across three administrative subdivisions in Kano State.
(Moving the below table here will give more sense, as it speaks to the paragraph above)
Mallam Sanusi Abdullahi, the Chairman of the Badume market Onion Dealers Association, says that since its establishment in the market community, the 10-tonne AAOST has gained popularity among farmers, due to its efficacy in onion preservation.
BENEFICIARY COMMUNITIES/LGAs
| s/no | Community | LGA | No of the targeted beneficiaries |
| 1 | Yadakwari | Garun Mallam LGA | 750 |
| 2 | Bagwai town | Bagwai LGA | 750 |
| 3 | Badume | Bichi LGA | 750 |
Mallam Sanusi Abdullahi commented “Before the intervention, onion farmers in the region spent several years looking for dependable and cost-effective storage methods to cut post-harvest losses and sustain their businesses, but often with little success. The AAOST facility has reduced onion storage losses by about three-fold, barely six months after it was commissioned for use.”
“This storage technology by SAA is very effective; we stored 30 bags for six months, and we were able to recover almost everything, only two bags perished, compared to last year where half the onions stored perished – incredible! As a result, most of our colleagues left to explore other businesses to sustain their families. But with the introduction of SAA’s new onion storage technology, all these are stories of the past now,” he said.
A solar-powered fan keeps the Onion neck tissue and outer scales dry. The system is programmed to work 12-hours per day and the fans only kick in every alternate hour, to avoid too much air flow across the bulbs, which can lead to more losses.
Due to its proven success rate, ease of use and low maintenance cost, onion farmers are now willing to increase the number of aerated storage facilities in their locations. Each unit costs USD 6,500, equivalent to NGN 2,860,000, and the association’s leaders have started mobilizing members to raise funds to expand their facilities.
Driven by the success of the AAOST facilities in 2022 SAA, through the KSADP, is establishing an additional 20 facilities this year to help address onion storage losses and to boost farmers’ income in the state.
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Last year, SAA conducted a demonstration in Mali to illustrate to farmers the effectiveness of hermetic storage. We established demonstration tests in farmers’ homes withing the village of Doumbadjila, where, for nine months, starting March 5, 2021 to December 8, 2021, equal quantities of maize and sorghum were stored in different containers including plastic silos, PICS bags, recycled plastic containers. Ordinary polypropylene (PPP) bags were used as controls for the test. The grains from the different containers were visually assessed for quality at the end of the test period by 179 participants, including 177 farmers (112 men; 65 women) and two extension agents (both male). The grains in the hermetic storage containers were found to be in perfect condition, free of insect-pest damage, and had no color or odor change. These qualities made them good for domestic consumption and seed production, as well as for sale in markets, where they fetched higher prices. Meanwhile, those in the PPP bags were full of insects and were generally in bad condition. The test confirmed that farmers using hermetic storage could make more savings by eliminating the costs incurred in the purchase of pesticides, which are mandatory when using non-hermetic storage techniques. Hermetic storage was also shown to be superior to other storage techniques as it left the products free of chemicals and thus safe for consumption.
SAA trained 125 frontline extension agents including eight community health extension workers on the usage of nutrient-dense crops in creating balanced diets and improving food diversity options. The trained agents cascaded the knowledge to 8,635 farmers (6,928 male; 1,707 female) in the Nasarawa, Jigawa, Gombe and Kano states of Nigeria. The programme was part of SAA’s strategy of using Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture to promote the consumption of adequate local balanced diets that improve the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HHDS) by reducing the stunting rate for children under five years of age. The nutrition awareness program encouraged farmers to consume the diverse local foods, in addition to embracing hygiene and physical exercise for good health. It also addressed the importance of breast and complementary feeding for babies as part of the approaches for malnutrition reduction in the targeted communities.
In a bid to combat Vitamin A and Iron deficiency in Uganda, SAA introduced farmers in Lutete, a village in the country’s Mubende District, to nutrient-dense, iron-reach beans, and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. Together with HarvestPlus, SAA trained the leaders of the Nkobazambogo farmers group on how to grow, process and preserve the super beans and sweet potatoes. The training also covered meal planning and preparation, with a focus on child-feeding and caregiving. The bio-fortified foods were especially recommended for children and women of reproductive age, like Nkobazambogo chairperson, Aisha Nakibule, who attested to their effectiveness. “It is rare to find malnourished children in our village; four years ago, it was a different story,” she explained.
Ms. Nakibule noted that the bio-fortified beans are tasty, take a short time to cook and can be profitably cultivated.
“Last season, we harvested slightly over 11 bags of beans out of which we sold nine at UGX1.5m (USD416), shared two amongst members, and retained 50kg for planting,” she said. The project was part of SAA’s strategy to support smallholder farmers in fighting malnutrition through nutrition-sensitive agriculture. This is against data from the Global Nutrition Report 2021 showing that 28.9% of children under five years of age in Uganda are stunted, 3.5% are wasting away, and 32.8% of women of reproductive age are anemic. The report also showed that 28% of Uganda’s preschool children suffer from vitamin A deficiency.
Since 2020, SAA has been promoting permagardening techniques in Ethiopia reaching a significant number of households, including 84 in Seboba Wesherbi, a village in the Raya Boda kebele of the Ana Sora woreda in the Oromia region. In 2021, SAA trained 28 farmers in Seboba Wesherbi, demonstrating how perma-gardening conserves water and improves soil fertility, allowing for easy root growth and, ultimately, higher crop yields. Furthermore, the training introduced participants to new vegetables like Swiss chard, which has a high biomass and can be harvested continuously. Following the training, 51 households established permagardens in their backyards; the additional 23 being those that did not attend the workshop but learned from their trained neighbours. Out of 51 perma-gardens, 35 were excellently established, allowing their owners to save USD 4 -6 USD per week that would have, otherwise, been spent on vegetable purchases. The new permagardens converted idle backyard plots into functional units that produce fresh and healthy vegetables, improving the household nutritional status in the region, and enabling farmers to generate additional income, with some households generating new revenue streams of up to USD100 over five months from vegetable sales.
Last year, SAA conducted a demonstration in Mali to illustrate to farmers the effectiveness of hermetic storage. We established demonstration tests in farmers’ homes withing the village of Doumbadjila, where, for nine months, starting March 5, 2021 to December 8, 2021, equal quantities of maize and sorghum were stored in different containers including plastic silos, PICS bags, recycled plastic containers. Ordinary polypropylene (PPP) bags were used as controls for the test. The grains from the different containers were visually assessed for quality at the end of the test period by 179 participants, including 177 farmers (112 men; 65 women) and two extension agents (both male). The grains in the hermetic storage containers were found to be in perfect condition, free of insect-pest damage, and had no color or odor change. These qualities made them good for domestic consumption and seed production, as well as for sale in markets, where they fetched higher prices. Meanwhile, those in the PPP bags were full of insects and were generally in bad condition. The test confirmed that farmers using hermetic storage could make more savings by eliminating the costs incurred in the purchase of pesticides, which are mandatory when using non-hermetic storage techniques. Hermetic storage was also shown to be superior to other storage techniques as it left the products free of chemicals and thus safe for consumption.
SAA trained 125 frontline extension agents including eight community health extension workers on the usage of nutrient-dense crops in creating balanced diets and improving food diversity options. The trained agents cascaded the knowledge to 8,635 farmers (6,928 male; 1,707 female) in the Nasarawa, Jigawa, Gombe and Kano states of Nigeria. The programme was part of SAA’s strategy of using Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture to promote the consumption of adequate local balanced diets that improve the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HHDS) by reducing the stunting rate for children under five years of age. The nutrition awareness program encouraged farmers to consume the diverse local foods, in addition to embracing hygiene and physical exercise for good health. It also addressed the importance of breast and complementary feeding for babies as part of the approaches for malnutrition reduction in the targeted communities.
In a bid to combat Vitamin A and Iron deficiency in Uganda, SAA introduced farmers in Lutete, a village in the country’s Mubende District, to nutrient-dense, iron-reach beans, and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. Together with HarvestPlus, SAA trained the leaders of the Nkobazambogo farmers group on how to grow, process and preserve the super beans and sweet potatoes. The training also covered meal planning and preparation, with a focus on child-feeding and caregiving. The bio-fortified foods were especially recommended for children and women of reproductive age, like Nkobazambogo chairperson, Aisha Nakibule, who attested to their effectiveness. “It is rare to find malnourished children in our village; four years ago, it was a different story,” she explained.
Ms. Nakibule noted that the bio-fortified beans are tasty, take a short time to cook and can be profitably cultivated.
“Last season, we harvested slightly over 11 bags of beans out of which we sold nine at UGX1.5m (USD416), shared two amongst members, and retained 50kg for planting,” she said. The project was part of SAA’s strategy to support smallholder farmers in fighting malnutrition through nutrition-sensitive agriculture. This is against data from the Global Nutrition Report 2021 showing that 28.9% of children under five years of age in Uganda are stunted, 3.5% are wasting away, and 32.8% of women of reproductive age are anemic. The report also showed that 28% of Uganda’s preschool children suffer from vitamin A deficiency.
Since 2020, SAA has been promoting permagardening techniques in Ethiopia reaching a significant number of households, including 84 in Seboba Wesherbi, a village in the Raya Boda kebele of the Ana Sora woreda in the Oromia region. In 2021, SAA trained 28 farmers in Seboba Wesherbi, demonstrating how perma-gardening conserves water and improves soil fertility, allowing for easy root growth and, ultimately, higher crop yields. Furthermore, the training introduced participants to new vegetables like Swiss chard, which has a high biomass and can be harvested continuously. Following the training, 51 households established permagardens in their backyards; the additional 23 being those that did not attend the workshop but learned from their trained neighbours. Out of 51 perma-gardens, 35 were excellently established, allowing their owners to save USD 4 -6 USD per week that would have, otherwise, been spent on vegetable purchases. The new permagardens converted idle backyard plots into functional units that produce fresh and healthy vegetables, improving the household nutritional status in the region, and enabling farmers to generate additional income, with some households generating new revenue streams of up to USD100 over five months from vegetable sales.