Sunday, September 09, 2007 P10-M corn dryer mat facility for Mindanao farmers
WAO, Lanao del Sur-Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato and Bukidnon farmers -- tilling 20,500 hectares of corn land in these provinces -- are expected to be the primary beneficiaries of a P10-million corn dryer mat facility inaugurated here Saturday by Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap as part of DA efforts to sustain the high growth path of the farm sector in Mindanao.
The corn dryer mat facility, which will be operated by the National Food Authority (NFA), consists of a modern corn post-harvest processing center, a conveyor, receiving and sorting section, dryer bin, corn-on-cob sheller, corn-on-cob dryer and a bagging bin.
The corn-on-cob dryer bin has the capacity to dry 2,000 bags of wet corn with 30 percent moisture content.
Yap said this facility signals the NFA's greater involvement in corn procurement.
"With the corn-on-cob procurement, the NFA expects to buy a considerable portion of the annual harvest of 2.7 million bags from some 20,500 hectares of land planted to corn in Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato, and Bukidnon," he said.
In addition to serving farmers from this town, Yap said the dryer mat will also serve corn growers from adjacent municipalities, including Kalilangan, Kadingilan and Pangantucan in Bukidnon; Banisilan in North Cotabato; and Bombaran ni Lanao del Sur.
"The NFA's dryer mat operation will modernize corn processing in Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato and Bukidnon, which will, in turn, help raise farmers' incomes by reducing their post-production losses and allowing them to maintain the high quality of their produce so that they can command better prices," Yap said.
