Esther Nduku, a maize farmer and trader in Embu, Kenya, shows her dry, clean maize grain, which she is storing in a metal silo. The silos can be made by local artisans using readily-available materials, take up little space, and enable farmers to store their grain without losses. 

CIMMYT&#039;s Effective Grain Storage project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is initially focusing on promoting these metal silos with partners in Kenya and Malawi, before widening the initiative to other African countries over a ten-year project. The silos were originally developed for Central America and have been adapted for Africa. 

By providing a reliable means to store grain without loss of quality, the silos provide African farmers with a way to control their post-harvest losses. Rather than selling surplus grain straight away, they are able to wait and get a better price for their crop, stabilizing supplies and prices of maize while increasing farmers&#039; food and income security. 

Photo credit: CIMMYT.