Friday, September 05, 2008 Agri dep't needs P61M for drying facilities By Carlo P. Mallo
AT LEAST P61 million is needed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Southern Mindanao to upgrade the drying facilities in the region and minimize the spoilage of palay due to the lack or absence of such.
The drying palay along the side of the highways and roads continues to be practiced in the region.
In an interview Thursday with DA Southern Mindanao chief Roger Chio, he said that an estimated of at least 122 units of drying equipment is needed to cater to the organized sector of the rice producers in the region.
"That does not even include those who are independently producing rice, this would only cater to the irrigators' association and farmers' cooperative," Chio said.
Chio is eyeing the procurement of at least 122 flatbed dryers and the construction of mini-warehouses that will serve as drying facilities for the region's rice producers. Each unit is at an estimated cost of half a million pesos.
An estimated 10 percent of the palay production is lost during the post harvest handling, particularly during the drying, which can reach billions of pesos worth of palay annually.
Palay, when sold with an ideal moisture content of 14 percent can fetch prices as high as P17 to P19 per kilo. But palay that has exceeded the 14 percent moisture content can only fetch prices from P10 to P12 per kilo.
