Expert Tasks Agric Engineers On Maize Preservation

An agricultural engi
neer, Mr Adaotu Muzan has called on fellow professionals to come to the aid of local maize farmers in the country by developing preservation apparatus to forestall the seasonal wastage of the crop.
Muzan who spoke to our correspondent in a telephone interview last Monday on the need for the preservation of the crop said the Silos used in preserving maize in developed countries was an improvement on the method used locally some years ago by our forefathers.
He explained that our fathers and mothers had a system were the maize was dried without removing the outer cover.
Continuing, he said the process entailed hanging the mature maize above the fire place and would be kept that way for as long as 20 months and aboave.
He regretted the abandonment of the process at the local level, adding that few do so only to have some for the planting season.
“We are no longer doing that and that is our own local preservation method”, he said.
According to Muzan, the white man modified it and by using electricity and other means to make sure they are preserved.
Explaining further on how maize could be preserved on a larger scale, Engr. Muzan said the use of Silos should be employed.
He said in order to enhance food security in relation to maize, the process of indiscriminate consumption of maize could only be checked through the use of Silos in preservation especially during the harvest season.
The process according to him entails harvesting of the mature comb and drying and finally put into the Silos for the necessary preservation process.
“That is how maize can be preserved and that is how the Americans have been preserving them”, he said.
He said the silos could be improved and used in the country even as he said the unfortunate thing was that Nigerians don’t want to use it to their advantage.
Debunking the belief by rural farmers that the extensive harvesting, boiling and roasting of maize at harvest was to avoid wastage, Muzan said it was counter productive on the long run.
He rather advised the farmers to take advantage of local preservative methods even as he said the product was bound to attract higher price after the harvest season.
“At harvest season, maize is sold at give away prices and farmers cannot even measure them input and output at the end of the day” he said.