Zimbabwe, India join forces to install metal silos to curb post-harvest food losses

ZIMBABWE – The government of Zimbabwe has partnered with India to install metal silos for grain storage in the Mangwe and Chiredzi districts, in a push to curb post-harvest losses for smallholder farmers.

With a total capacity of 10 by five tonnes each, the metal silos are envisioned to offer grain storage ensuring better preservation of food grains and enhancing their shelf life.

Storage is the major cause of post-harvest losses for all kinds of food in Zimbabwe.

According to the Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS), the partnership between the Indian government and Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development offers an excellent opportunity to combat the challenge of post-harvest losses.

It added that by embracing modern storage methods, the two governments were actively working towards promoting food security and combating hunger.

ARDAS further highlighted that the use of metal silos had been credited with a reduction in post-harvest losses in grains in many developing countries, hence, when properly used, metal silos are very effective in reducing crop losses to almost zero.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations about 30 percent of the harvested grain is lost due to lack of appropriate storage facilities, a situation forcing farmers to sell most of their grain soon after harvesting at very low prices, leaving them poor and vulnerable.

In Zimbabwe, the metal silos program was launched in September 2012 to promote and develop an efficient, integrated, and mechanized bulk handling, storage, and transportation system in the country.

The Indian, World Food Programme (WFP) and Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development have since embarked on a program to train farmers on the making of metal silos.

“Metal silos ensure better preservation of food grains and enhance their shelf life. If food grains are stored in silos and transported in bulk, losses due to theft, pilferage, and transportation would be negligible compared to food grains storage in bags in conventional warehouses” explained ARDA.

The storage solutions come at a time when the country reported a 25% increase in wheat production in 2023.

According to data from Zimbabwe’s Rural Agricultural Advisory Services, wheat harvest in 2023 stood at 468,000 tonnes, exceeding its consumption need of 360,000 tonnes.

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