CONSTRUCTION OF STORAGE STRUCTURES FOR ONION BULBS FOR FOOD SECURITY

Abstract

The impacts of climate change on natural disasters, infra-structure and livelihood, infers that the implementation of climate change adaptation strategies in developing countries needs to be practically addressed. Among other factors, inter-annual rainfall variations, excessive rainfall which causes flood and drought cause great stress to the farming activities, crop production and crop yield. During these periods there is food scarcity due to lack of storage infrastructure that can make food to be available throughout the year. Large quantities of harvested produce are wasted due to deterioration during the peak of harvest. To ensure food security and to reduce wastage, the adoption of an effective storage condition is necessary. This paper presents the analysis to set up proper storage medium for onion bulbs to make the crop available when it is off season. A storage shed was constructed and some storage cabinets were kept inside for storing onions and compared with open storage of onion bulb on concrete floor. The storage shed was built with concrete blocks and covered with corrugated iron sheet. The storage cabinet was constructed with wood which was divided into three portions and the sides were covered with thin wire mesh. The onion bulbs were measured, graded into small, medium and big sizes and arranged in each portion (A, B and C) of the cabinet, respectively. The temperature and relative humidity inside the storage medium were measured three times daily. Analysis of variance was used to determine effect of storage period on weight of the onion bulbs. The comparison of open storage and storage was done using T-test analysis. The area of the entire storage shed was 25 m² and each storage cabinet was 2.25 m² and each portion of the cabinet was 0.25 m².The diameter of the onion bulbs ranged from 3.2 to 5.98 cm (small), 6.01 to 7.09 cm (medium) and 7.39 to 9.27 cm (large). The result of experimental values showed that the rate of deterioration varies with the sizes of the onion. Analyses of variance results indicated that moisture (weight) loss increased as storage period increased. The rate of deterioration of onion bulbs in storage cabinet is minimal. The effect of temperature and relative humidity is significant at 95 % confidence level on stored products which necessitates the prolonged shelf life. The designed wooden storage cabinet for homestead storage of onion bulb is recommended for domestic use to ensure food security and safety.