This brief provides practical guidelines on storage practices and methodologies to assist southern African farmers prone to natural hazards, mainly cyclones, droughts and floods.

The target audience for this brief includes NGO staff, extension workers, community development leaders and government officials who work in development, relief or disaster risk reduction (DRR) projects and programmes in hazard prone rural areas in southern Africa. This brief includes a review of the main factors that cause grain and seed deterioration in storage, a description of the main storage pests in southern Africa, and some good practices to reduce the impact of storage pests that follow the principles of integrated pest management (IPM), as well as some examples of traditional and modern storage methods and facilities.