Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) Bags
Larry Murdock at Purdue University
The PICS bag is a cost-effective, triple-layer hermetic storage bag which permits farmers to store their grains without the use of insecticide thus providing them healthy, clean food that can be stored for longer.
The Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) bags are high density, hermetic polyethylene bags, with ultra-thick walls of 80 microns, intended to maintain the viability of cowpeas for planting, minimize mold growth and accumulation of mycotoxins and control storage insect pests, thereby enabling farmers to store their grains without the use of insecticides.
The PICS projects (PICS2 and PICS3) carried out research to explore the usefulness and value of PICS bags of crops including maize, sorghum, wheat, rice, peanut, common bean, hibiscus seed, mung bean, pigeon pea and bambara groundnut.
Purdue University in partnership with manufacturers private entrepreneurs and vendors.
PICS bags are produced in 50kg and 100kg capacity sizes and cost between $2 USD and $4 USD depending on the region. Purdue gets funding for commercializing PICS bags in Africa
Grain storage bags such as the ZeroFly Storage Bag.
Goal 2: Aims to achieve food security and nutrition by preventing gastrointestinal issues due to poorly preserved food and maintaining storage of staple food.
Goal 1: Aims to reduce poverty for rural farmers by reducing post-harvest losses.
Common farmers/ producers in Africa, cowpeas farmers and other grain storage in the off-harvest season.