Smallholders are harnessing the power of the sun to reduce pest damage in their stored cowpea crops. In many zones of sub-Saharan Africa, farmers depend on storage to ensure supplies and sales over the long dry season. Previously, however, the cowpea or bruchid beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) caused serious damage to stored crops. The solution is simple but effective: appropriate exposure of cowpeas to the sun leads to a temperature rise that kills most if not all of the pests – eggs, larvae and adults – on and inside the grains. This technique is being used by smallholders in 40 villages in Ghana, as well as by farmers in Uganda.