Determinants of the Use of Hermetic Storage Bags for Maize Storage among Smallholder Farmers in Northwest Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, postharvest losses, mainly storage losses by insects, are very critical problems in agricultural production systems. In particular, maize is highly susceptible to insect and pest attacks in the storage. These storage losses affect the livelihood of small-scale farmers by aggravating their food insecurity and reducing their household income. This critical problem forced the farmers to look forward modern storage technologies like Purdue improved crop storage (PICS) bags, but its adoption is considerably low in the study area. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to examine the determinants to use PICS bags for maize storage. Data were collected through semistructured questionnaire, group discussion, key informants, and direct observation. A total of 392 sample household heads were selected by simple random sampling techniques. Binary logistic regression model, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the data. This study revealed that, about 58% of the respondents replied that the importance of PICS bags in reducing insect damage was high. The results of binary logit model also indicated that educational level, sex, awareness, training, accessibility, perception on the effect of pesticide, social responsibility, and total income of the household positively and significantly affect farmers’ decision to use PICS bags. Moreover, the price of PICS affects negatively and significantly. Therefore, policy makers have to give emphasis for this newly introduced storage technology to address storage loss problems by taking in to account these determinants.