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Abstract
Upcoming technologies for maize storage have sometimes been promoted without
being subjected to trials and economic analysis. In the recent past, new storage technologies,
actellic super, super grain bag and the metal silo have been developed. In this paper, the results
of crop loss trials are combined with measures of project worth to determine the attractiveness of
investing in new storage technologies. Determination of the benefit was based on the amount of
loss the new technology could abate. A one ton metal silo, with negligible % crop loss abated
USD 100 in 12 months. These benefits were found to increase with time meaning that a farmer
benefits by storing longer. Measures of project worth, the NPV and BCR were used to analyze
the attractiveness of investing in the new technologies at a discount rate of 15% and an
investment period of 15 years. Sensitivity analysis was done by varying the discount rate and the
investment period. When six metal silo sizes were subjected to this analysis, the results showed
that the three largest silos were attractive for all these scenarios. On the other hand, the smaller
the silo size the higher the requirement that the interest rate be small and the period of
investment bigger for it to be an attractive investment. Therefore, promoting larger silos would
be more cost-effective to the farmer.