The significance of post-harvest maize handling to food sufficiency in subsistence farm households in Aframso; Ejura-Sekyeredumansi District, Ghana

Abstract

The study concentrated on the role postharvest maize handling in subsistence farm household’s food sufficiency in Aframso, Ejura-Sekyeredumansi District, located in the middle belt Ghana. Maize remains an integral crop for subsistence farm households and plays a vital role in safe guarding food security in the country as a whole. It is the most widely consumed staple food in the district and Ghana in general, it happens to be the most important cereal grain in the country. Subsistence farmers in this district are involved in substantial quantity of maize production in each farming season therefore it was prudent to undertake this case study to explore the food sufficiency status of the farmers themselves at the grassroots who are involved with the maize productivity. A total of sixteen subsistence farmers were interviewed with the aid of an interview guide I prepared earlier in order to help obtain information regarding the farming and postharvest activities associated with maize production. In addition, the interview guide was designed to extract information from other stake holders such as extension service officers and the director of the ministry of agriculture of the district. Personnel from institutions such as the Ghana statistical service and council for scientific and industrial research were also contacted for information. The farmers involved with the study used a normal traditional method of maize storage, which is the act of storing the harvested maize with the husk on in a locally constructed cribs as well as using an improved traditional method of storage in which farmers manually dehusk maize cobs, shell them, bag and pack them on pallets in well ventilated store rooms in their houses. Various farmers incurred maize losses with the different types of storage method used but it came to bear that most farmers involved with the use of the normal traditional storage method experienced food insufficiencies at different part of the year in both 2011 and 2012, since they incurred higher quantity of maize loss than farmer who used the improved traditional method. Though the normal traditional storage method fail to give good protection to the stored maize, farmers are unable to switch to the improved traditional method because of its easiness to use, the low cost involved as well as the norms and heritage of the rural subsistence farmers attached to this method (normal traditional method).