Journal of Agriculture
and Environmental Sciences

Analysis of Post-Harvest Management Practices among Maize Farmers in Oju, Benue State, Nigeria
Agada, Mary O; Ijih, Beatrice E

Abstract
The study analyzed post-harvest management practices of maize among farmers in Oju, Benue State, Nigeria. Data were collected from randomly selected 90 maize farmers using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage and mean. Results of the study showed that maize post-harvest losses were caused by pests and diseases (M=3.0), poor packaging (M=2.8), poor processing facilities (M=2.8), lack of proper storage facilities (M=2.7) and pre-mature harvesting (M=2.6). About 98.9% of farmers used chemicals for maize treatment in storage and grinding machines for grinding, 97.8% used motor cycles and 96.7% used motor vehicles for maize transportation. High use of traditional post-harvest management practices such as sun drying (M=3.0), hand winnowing (M=2.8) and hand threshing (M=2.7) and moderate use of storage sacks (M=2.1) and mortal and pestles (M=2.0) for grinding were reported by producers. Farmers faced serious post-harvest management problems of pests and diseases (M=2.9), lack of extension services (M=2.8), lack of access to improved post-harvest technologies (M=2.8), inadequate storage infrastructure (M=2.8) and low level of education (M=2.7). It is recommended that government and non-governmental organizations should provide modern post-harvest facilities to farmers for improved post-harvest management practices which could enhance their income and food security.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jaes.v8n1a19