The Origins of PICS: From Purdue to the World

For smallholder farmers around the world, the harvest season brings not only the fruits of their labor but also the challenge of storing their crops. Traditional storage methods often leave grains vulnerable to insect damage, mold, and losses that can devastate food security and income. Many more effective storage methods may be expensive or inaccessible, but PICS Global is trying to change that. With PICS bags, a simple, affordable, science-based innovation, farmers now have an option to protect their crops without any pesticides. 

The Origins of PICS: From Purdue to the World

PICS stands for Purdue Improved Crop Storage, a technology developed at Purdue University to address post-harvest losses among smallholder farmers. Originally designed to protect cowpea from weevils in West Africa, the bags have since been tested and validated for a wide range of crops including maize, rice, sorghum, millet, groundnuts, coffee, cacao, and more. 

When faced with the challenge to scale PICS bags across other regions of the world, the PICS team designed an innovative strategy – a social impact business model that ensured quality PICS bag availability around the world while ensuring local business development and economic benefit. PICS Global was born in 2018, granting licenses for manufacture and distribution. Through this business model the PICS bags has expanded dramatically—through partnerships, pilots, and scale-ups across numerous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America – proving its effectiveness across diverse crops and climates. Today, millions of farmers use PICS bags to safeguard their harvests without relying on chemical insecticides.

Triple-Layer Technology: Simple, Effective, and Safe

While many hermetic bags are available on the market, PICS bags offer a more effective, affordable solution. At the heart of the PICS solution is a triple-layer bag that provides hermetic storage. 

Each PICS bag consists of:

• Two inner liners made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) that are airtight and prevent oxygen exchange. The two-layer liner in PICS adds additional protection – if the inner liner gets damaged from grain, especially grains with pointy edges, the second liner ensures the bag maintains an oxygen barrier and continues to function. 
• One outer woven polypropylene layer that provides structural support and protects the inner liners.
• Three pieces of raffia to seal each bag and ensure full pest protection. 

This design deprives insects of oxygen, effectively stopping their development and reproduction. Unlike other storage bags that may use only a single or double liner, the triple-layer system of PICS offers superior pest protection and durability, reducing the chances of punctures or air leakage. Because PICS bags do not require chemicals, they protect the health of farmers and consumers, preserve the quality of grain, and support better prices in the market. And with a price point that remains affordable for smallholder farmers, they offer an accessible and cost-effective alternative to metal silos or chemical treatments.

PICS Global: Expanding the Impact

Over the last decade, PICS bags have been adopted by millions of farmers across West, East, Central, and Southern Africa. From Nigeria to Kenya, and from Ethiopia to Malawi, farmers have reported substantial reductions in post-harvest losses—often storing their grains safely for 6 to 12 months or more.

In addition to reducing food waste and increasing incomes, PICS technology is contributing to improved nutrition, better planning for seed use, and resilience against market volatility. It is no exaggeration to say that in many communities, PICS has become synonymous with food security and self-reliance.

In an era of rising food insecurity, climate change, and economic uncertainty, solutions like PICS bags offer scalable, sustainable, and science-based answers to some of the most pressing agricultural challenges. Whether in a remote village in Kenya or a farming community in southern Mexico, PICS bags are helping farmers take control of their harvest—without chemicals, without losses, and without compromise.