Monday, August 21, 2006
RP's 1st modern corn post harvest facility ready
KABACAN, North Cotabato -- The country's first-ever government-run modern post-harvest facilities for corn, designed to curb aflatoxin contents, is in this city and is being fine-tuned to enhance premium corn supply in the country, officials said.
Corn with very high aflatoxin levels, when eaten by animals or humans, could result in biological disorders or even death, a study earlier made by the Bureau of Post harvest Research and Extension said.
Aflatoxin is caused by the buildup of molds in corn due to improper or poor post harvest facilities.
The government wants to produce quality corn at 20 parts per billion aflatoxin level.
On Tuesday, Mario Aporada, National Agribusiness Corp. roving project manager, briefed reporters in Barangay Osias of the status of the first modern post-harvest production facility project by the Department of Agriculture.
"We're on the test run stage and targeting to formally launch this project at the end of the month," he said.
Aporada said the facility has the capacity to accommodate 250 metric tons of corns still in cobs at any time.
With between 30 percent to 22 percent moisture content, these corns are shelled in another bin with a capacity of 20 tons per hour.
These are then dried using a mechanical drier at 60 to 70 degree centigrade for about 22 hours.
Solar frying, common in farming communities, could last for two days and even more.
"The problems of our farmers are really on drying their corn. When using traditional drying method, aflatoxin could up build up in three to four days. Our project's aim is to address this deficiency so we can really produce good quality of corn," he stressed.
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(August 21, 2006 issue)
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