Low-Cost Grain Moisture Meter for Developing Countries

Success story by Sam McNeill, Extension Professor in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and Co-PI on two USAID funded projects in Ghana and Nigeria

Grain is commonly stored in jute or polyproplyene bags in Africa, Asia, Latin America and many under-developed contries, many of which have environmental conditions that are suitable for mold growth and insect activity throughout the entire year. Current storage losses in many areas are commonly estimated to be between 25 and 30%. Thus, timely drying of freshly harvested grain crops is the crutial first step to prepare grain for storage and preserve its quality for consumption or sale several months after harvest. To assist the drying process, a low-cost, probe-type moisture meter was developed by Dr. Paul Armstrong, an agricultural engineer at the USDA-ARS Engineering Unit in Manhattan, KS, to help grain farmers and merchants measure grain moisture quickly and accurately during the drying process (Fig. 1) and in bags during storage (Fig. 2). Since 2014 the PHL meter has been demonstrated to farmers, extension educators in the public and private sectors, grain merchants and processors at grain storage workshops in Ghana and Nigeria. Additionally, it has been shown to scientists, youth and others at two international conferences (Rome, Italy and Nairobi, Kenya), two USAID implementing partner meetings in Africa (Dakar, Senegal and Accra, Ghana), the national FFA meeting, and the UK CAFE International Day. In 2017, the meter was featured in an article in Resource magazine (asabe.org) and an entrepreneuer in Ghana began manufacturing them in November (https://www.k-state.edu/phl/news-room/Ghana-moisturemeterevent.html). The initial estimated demand for these meters in Ghana alone is over 500 units, which will be demonstrated to and used by grain and poultry farmers throughout the country.

To assist practitioners with educational outreach in rural areas of developing countries, the SAWBO group produced a six minute You-Tube video in 2017 to show farmers, merchants, processors and others how to use the meter when drying grains and other food products (https://sawbo-animations.org/video.php?video=//www.youtube.com/embed/uoDyAp537bo). Currently it is only available in English, but with donor and technical support they could quickly provide companion videos in any local language.

Related sources:

1. Armstrong, P.R., S.G. McNeill, N. Manu, A. Bosomtwe, J.K. Danso, E. Osekre and G. Opit. 2017. Development and evaluation of a low-cost probe-type instrument to measure the equilibrium moisture content of grain. Applied Engineering in Ag. 33(5):619-627. https://doi.org/10.13031/aea.12266
2. Bhadra, R. 2017. Reducing post-harvest loss in developing countries through the feed the future initiative. ASABE Resource: 24(3):12-15.
3. Suszkiw, J. 2017. Moisture meter will help prevent grain loss. Resource: 24(3): 24-25.

Figure 1. Demonstration of PHL moisture meter when drying white corn in Ejura, Ghana.

Figure 2. Using the PHL meter to check grain moisture in a small storage warehouse in Ejura, Ghana.