Production Practices, Postharvest Handling, and Quality of Cowpea Seed Used by Farmers in Makueni and Taita Taveta Counties in Kenya

Table 3

Percentage of farmers using various postharvest handling practices of cowpea seeds in various agroecological zones in Makueni and Taita Taveta during the 2016 long rains.

Methods of threshing	LM4 (Wote)	LM5 (Makindu)	LM5 (Mwatate)
Physical hitting	100.0	100.0	97.9
Removal by hand	0.0	0.0	2.1
Methods of drying
Sun-drying after harvesting	96.0	97.1	85.7
Sun-drying before harvesting	4.0	2.9	12.2
Storage place
House racks	24.0	14.7	74.5
Granary	76.0	85.3	23.5
Kitchen	0.0	0.0	2.0
Storage containers
Nylon bags	64.0	91.2	55.8
Gunny bags	8.0	8.8	3.8
Plastic containers	20.0	0.0	28.8
Pots	4.0	0.0	7.7
Reed baskets	4.0	0.0	3.8
Treatment before storage
Pirimiphos-methyl	95.0	57.6	55.9
Malathion 2% + permethrin 0.3 w/w	0.0	0.0	9.1
Ash	0.0	42.4	29.4
Others (paraffin, oil, smoking)	5.0	0.0	0.0

LM4: lower midland zone IV; LM5: lower midland zone V.