IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v11y2021i6p568-d578769.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Techno-Economic Analysis of a Crossflow Column Dryer for Maize Drying in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • George Obeng-Akrofi

    (Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA)

  • Joseph O. Akowuah

    (Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

  • Dirk E. Maier

    (Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA)

  • Ahmad Addo

    (Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

Abstract

In Ghana, smallholder maize farmers continue to serve as the primary contributor to maize production. These farmers, however, still face challenges of access to appropriate, effective, and efficient drying systems. They continue to depend on open sun drying, which leads to high post-harvest losses. In this study, a 500 kg portable column dryer with a biomass burner heat source was evaluated using maize. Indicators such as drying rate, drying efficiency, and moisture extraction rate were used to assess its technical performance. The economic performance of the drying system was appraised using Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR), and Payback Period (PBP). The results showed that the moisture content of maize was reduced from 22.3% to 13.4 ± 2.6% in 5 h at an average drying rate of 1.81%/h and drying efficiency of 64.7%. Utilization of the column dryer for the provision of drying services in a maize-growing community over a 10-year utilization period proved viable with an NPV and IRR of $1633 and 71%, respectively, PBP of less than two years, and BCR of 2.82. Adoption of such low-capacity mobile grain dryers in sub-Saharan Africa would be beneficial in providing timely drying services and improve the socio-economic status of smallholder maize farmers in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • George Obeng-Akrofi & Joseph O. Akowuah & Dirk E. Maier & Ahmad Addo, 2021. "Techno-Economic Analysis of a Crossflow Column Dryer for Maize Drying in Ghana," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:6:p:568-:d:578769
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/6/568/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/6/568/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monica Fisher & Tsedeke Abate & Rodney Lunduka & Woinishet Asnake & Yoseph Alemayehu & Ruth Madulu, 2015. "Drought tolerant maize for farmer adaptation to drought in sub-Saharan Africa: Determinants of adoption in eastern and southern Africa," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 283-299, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dirk E. Maier & Hory Chikez, 2021. "Recent Innovations in Post-Harvest Preservation and Protection of Agricultural Products," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-5, December.
    2. Hadibi, Tarik & Mennouche, Djamel & Boubekri, Abdelghani & Arıcı, Müslüm & Wang, Yunfeng & Li, Ming & Emam Hassanien, Reda Hassanien & Shirkole, Shivanand S., 2024. "Experimental investigation, performance analysis, and optimization of hot air convective drying of date fruits via response surface methodology," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    3. Zhaohong Wu & Wenyuan Hua & Liangguo Luo & Katsuya Tanaka, 2022. "Technical Efficiency of Maize Production and Its Influencing Factors in the World’s Largest Groundwater Drop Funnel Area, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, April.
    4. JO Akowuah & HA Boateng & G Obeng Akrofi & DE Maier, 2021. "Performance evaluation of a flatbed maize dryer with a biomass heat source," International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology (IJARIT), IJARIT Research Foundation, vol. 11(2), December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Usman Alhassan & Emmanuel Umoru Haruna, 2024. "Rural farmers’ perceptions of and adaptations to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does climate-smart agriculture (CSA) matter in Nigeria and Ethiopia?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(3), pages 613-652, July.
    2. Martey, Edward & Etwire, Prince Maxwell & Abdoulaye, Tahirou, 2020. "Welfare impacts of climate-smart agriculture in Ghana: Does row planting and drought-tolerant maize varieties matter?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    3. Samson P. Katengeza & Stein T. Holden & Rodney W. Lunduka, 2019. "Adoption of Drought Tolerant Maize Varieties under Rainfall Stress in Malawi," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 198-214, February.
    4. Erenstein, Olaf & Kassie, Girma Tesfahun, 2018. "Seeding eastern Africa’s maize revolution in the post-structural adjustment era: a review and comparative analysis of the formal maize seed sector," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 21(1).
    5. Franklin Simtowe & Paswel Marenya & Emily Amondo & Mosisa Worku & Dil Bahadur Rahut & Olaf Erenstein, 2019. "Heterogeneous seed access and information exposure: implications for the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties in Uganda," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, December.
    6. Paul, Laura A., 2018. "The Downside of Good Rains: Drought Risk and WTP for Maize with Weather Contingent Advantages," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274471, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Paul, Laura A., 2017. "Ex-Ante Investment Under Risk: Drought Tolerant Maize Adoption in East Africa," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258446, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Ogunlesi, Ayodeji & Bokana, Koye & Okoye, Chidozie & Loy, Jens-Peter, 2018. "Agricultural Productivity and Food Supply Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa: LSDV and SYS-GMM Approach," MPRA Paper 90204, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kabbiri, Ronald & Dora, Manoj & Kumar, Vikas & Elepu, Gabriel & Gellynck, Xavier, 2018. "Mobile phone adoption in agri-food sector: Are farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa connected?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 253-261.
    10. Batanai Sammie & Elvis Mupfiga & Liboster Mwadzingeni & Tavengwa Chitata & Raymond Mugandani, 2021. "A gendered lens to self-evaluated and actual climate change knowledge," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 65-75, March.
    11. Shimelis Araya Geda & Rainer Kühl, 2021. "Exploring Smallholder Farmers’ Preferences for Climate-Smart Seed Innovations: Empirical Evidence from Southern Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Gebregiorgis, Gebrecherkos; Zeweld, Woldegebrial; Hdgot, Assefa; Gebregziabher, Dawit; Azadi, Hossein ; Van Huylenbroeck, Guido; Tesfay, Girmay ; Speelman, Stijn, 2024. "Lessons Learned from Adopting Sustainable Agricultural Practices to Address Food Insecurity and Climate Change Risks: Opportunities, Constraints, and Limitations," Research on World Agricultural Economy, Nan Yang Academy of Sciences Pte Ltd (NASS), vol. 5(3), September.
    13. Edinam Dope Setsoafia & Wanglin Ma & Alan Renwick, 2022. "Effects of sustainable agricultural practices on farm income and food security in northern Ghana," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Malacarne, J.G. & Paul, L.A., 2022. "Do the benefits of improved management practices to nutritional outcomes “dry up” in the presence of drought? Evidence from East Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    15. Giroux, Stacey & Kaminski, Patrick & Waldman, Kurt & Blekking, Jordan & Evans, Tom & Caylor, Kelly K., 2023. "Smallholder social networks: Advice seeking and adaptation in rural Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    16. Kibrom A. Abay & Leah E. M. Bevis & Christopher B. Barrett, 2021. "Measurement Error Mechanisms Matter: Agricultural Intensification with Farmer Misperceptions and Misreporting," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(2), pages 498-522, March.
    17. Victoire Girard & Teresa Molina-Millán & Guillaume Vic, 2022. "Artisanal mining in Africa," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2201, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    18. Yaojie Yue & Lin Wang & Jian Li & A-xing Zhu, 2018. "An EPIC model-based wheat drought risk assessment using new climate scenarios in China," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 539-553, April.
    19. Laura A Paul, 2021. "Heterogeneous and conditional returns from DT maize for farmers in Southern Africa [Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(5), pages 1224-1248.
    20. Aniseh S. Bro, 2020. "Climate Change Adaptation, Food Security, and Attitudes toward Risk among Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Nicaragua," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:6:p:568-:d:578769. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.