Modern palay drying facility in Pangasinan benefits farmers

VILLASIS, Pangasinan, Philippines – A modern palay (unhusked rice)  drying facility  that can dry 400 metric tons of palay a day is now benefiting farmers here and in nearby towns, allowing them  to earn more and prevent losses from the traditional solar drying system.

With the modern palay drying   facility, the total harvest from 4,000 hectares (with average yield of four tons per hectare) can be dried in 40 days.

The mechanical dryer uses rice hulls as fuel in its biomass furnace. It also has a panel board to monitor the moisture content of the palay before and after drying.

The palay dried in the facility is  of better quality because of controlled moisture content and 100 percent recovery.

The post harvest facility and a warehouse project in Barangay Unzad was initiated by former Pangasinan fifth district Rep. Mark Cojuangco after he  observed the volume of grains lost because of the old drying system of the farmers.

According to Cojuangco,  with the solar drying system, five percent of the grains are lost and the dried palay contain pebbles and other undesirable items.

But with the modern drying facility,  five percent of palay is recovered and the dried grains are free from undesirable items, he said.

It was Cojuangco’s  wife Kimi, who took over the congressional seat in 2010, who led lost the groundbreaking ceremony of the project  on July 20, 2012. With her were the municipal officials of Villasis led by Mayor Dita Abrenica.

After two years of site development and construction of warehouse, including the installation of the mechanical dryer and its accessories, the palay drying facility started  operating in September 2013.

The palay dryer and warehouse sits on an area of 4,100 square meters on a 2.5-hectare property in Unzad.

During the pilot operations, more than 100 tons of wet palay were mechanically dried, of which 70 tons are owned by traders and more than 30 tons by local farmers through the Villasis Municipal Employees Multipurpose Cooperative .

The pilot operations of the palay dryer and warehouse was just in time for the harvest season of wetland palay crops to assist traders and farmers to have quality dried palay, allowing them  to command a higher price in the market.

The cost of drying is only sixty-five centavos (P.65) for farmers.

The drying facility and warehouse are also open to farmers and traders from neighboring towns.