Farm level storage practices of wheat

This study was conducted to bring forth the traditional storage practices being followed by farmers to store the grains free from loses by rodents, insects and moisture. Six villages in Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts were selected for survey of farm level storage conditions with concern to identify traditional practices related to food storage. Modern storage structures like metal bins and storage rooms were popular among farmers of all categories. Storage structure and grains were properly cleaned and dried before storing grains. Use of aluminium phosphide as grain protectant was most common among farmers although some of them were also using neem leaves and match boxes as grain protectant. They were of the opinion that quality of wheat is not affected during storage period because of the preventive measures taken by them. Methods adopted by farmers to control and exclude rodents from stores include good house keeping, rodent proofing, trapping, poisoning and rearing of cats. Both Rattus rattus and Mus musculus were trapped in stores with very low trap index indicated that adoption of rodent control methods have limited the rodent population in stores. The findings of present study suggest that farmers should be encouraged to use indigenous storage practices like rodent proof, fumigated, sealed and properly cleaned storage structures, use grain protectants against rodents and pests, proper sanitation to reduce hiding places for rodents and for rearing of cats as rodents predators in, and around grain stores.