Excessive grain safely storable in low-cost plastic bags

While the ancipated size of the harvest could have a stabilising effect on food price inflaon, an increasingly compeve global market connues to pressure South African producers to find new ways of cung costs on grain and silage storage.

One such method is the use of massive Hitec grain bags on sites around the country, which is the result of a new deal between South African agricultural specialists Rhino Plascs – part of the sustainable soluons group of companies, Rhino Group – and Greece based master batches and agricultural films manufacturer Plaska Kris.

“This deal not only has significance for the local market in terms of beer value, it also offers the industry a far superior product,” says Rhino Group MD Brian van Niekerk.

This comes aer a report was released by government's Crop Esmates Commiee on January 26, stang that South African maize farmers are set to have their hands full come harvest me, aer planng almost a third more hectares this season.

The report indicated that 2.5-million hectares had been allocated to maize, which marks a 31% increase on the 1.9-million planted during the previous, drought-ridden year

Owing to this, the Hitec grain bags enable improved quality and the ability to engineer and improve costs on the end product, impacng on South Africa's ability to remain globally compeve, he says.

Van Niekerk notes that the bags boast a trademarked, seven-layered barrier film, dramacally increasing the strength of the bags, while, more importantly, reducing the oxygen permeability of the film.

He also claims that since introducing the product, demand from across the country has surged. “Customers range from farmers to agricultural organisaons stretching into Southern Africa.”

Rhino Plascs director Brendan Kelly says the bags are a soluon for storing grains such as wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, soybean, rice, rye and legumes, which are increasingly in demand globally

The seven-layered Hitec grain bag is one of many agricultural products supplied by Rhino Plascs. Other products include silage films, balewrap film, green house films, liner low density polyethylene irrigaon pipe, mulch films and dam liners, among other related products.

“The grain can be loaded in the bags directly from

Addional benefits include lower inial investment, on-site storage, flexibility and savings on freight,” notes Kelly

He says that the grain bags supplied by Rhino Plascs were used extensively by their clients during the 2016 intake season to store wheat, barley and oats – among other grains and silage. He also states that the bags handle very well on bagging machinery and have high-quality stretching and durability properes.

The Hitec grain and silage bags create a hermec environment, which promotes oxygen depleon and simultaneous carbon dioxide producon.

This is because of the respiratory process of the bioc components inside the bag, Kelly adds.

“The new atmosphere in the bag, rich in carbon dioxide and poor in oxygen, suppresses, deacvates, or reduces not only the reproducon or development capacity of insects and fungi, but also the grain's own acvity, in turn, facilitang its preservaon. Users report that the Hitec bag packs between 5% and 10% more grain than other bags of the same size,” he concludes