The impact of metal silos on rice storage and storage losses in China

Reducing food loss and waste has recently become an important aspect of ensuring China’s national food security. Because of the importance of household grain storage, the government of China implemented the Scientific Grain Storage Project (SGSP) to encourage farmers to adopt advanced storage facilities (mainly metal silos for rice storage). Based on survey data of 1159 households in 21 provinces, we first analysed the factors that affect farmers’ adoption of metal silos and then used Propensity Score Matching method to assess the impact of metal silos on household rice storage and storage losses. The number of years of schooling, religious beliefs of household decision makers, family size, annual net income, Cooperative membership, planting area, and awareness of grain saving practices were significantly correlated with household decisions on the adoption of metal silos. Metal silos significantly extended the duration of rice storage by households by 18 days, reduced rice storage losses by 43% from 1.6% to 0.7% of output, and protected rice from rodent damage during storage. Promoting the adoption of metal silos by farmers is important for ensuring China’s food security. The adoption of metal silos can increase the supply of rice by 626,800 t per year; save 86,600 ha of land, 29,400 t of fertilizer, and 0.82 billion m3 of water; reduce carbon emissions by 232,200 t, and meet the food consumption needs of 1.39 million people per year. The government should continue the SGSP scheme and encourage farmers to adopt advanced storage facilities.