Hermetic Bag: A Farmers Friendly Paddy Storage Technology in Bangladesh

Abstract

In Bangladesh, most of the farm households store paddy to meet their own consumption, facing emergency needs and seeds for the next sowing season in traditional storage technologies which susceptible to insect, rodent and mold. Training and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were conducted to disseminate hermetic (PICS and GrainPro) bag at Mymensingh and Jashore regions. The participants learned the use of moisture meter in paddy drying and safe storage. Pedagogical approach was followed in the FGD among 100 farmers of different age with their spouse. Farmers’ perception about these bags was also taken. Traditional storage technologies namely, Dole, Motka, Guny Bag, Bamboo Gola, Dhari, Bamboo Auri, and Berh were identified which are not durable or functional in Bangladesh. Among these, Dole and Plastic Bag for consumption, and Motka and Plastic Drum were found suitable for paddy seed storage. Women taught to neighbors about the operation of moisture meter and HB. About 87, 13% farmers prefer 10-20 and 40-50 kg size HB in Mymensingh while 82 and 18% farmers of Jashore prefer corresponding sizes of bags for seed purposes. For sale and consumption purposes, about 40, 35 and 20% farmer preferred 500, 1000 and 2000 kg size HB in Mymensingh. On the contrary, about 26, 38 and 36% farmers prefer same size of HB in Jashore. Farmer shown keen interest about HB and concerned of its high price. They opined price of 40-50 and 500-2000 kg size HB should be within Tk. 20 and Tk. 200, respectively. Both female and male farmers can store paddy in it properly. Price of hermetic bag is high, ranked as no. 1 problem followed by its availability in different sizes locally. However, HB was found effective in paddy storage in Bangladesh.