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Cultivating FIELDS for Rice Self-sufficiency

Couple Roman and Erlinda Balagat are just earning a net of P28,000 per season from the rice land they are, farming because of high input costs and poor water source. And although what they earn is barely enough to sustain the financial needs of their growing family the couple have no choice but to cultivate rice.

“It is better than having no source of money at all,” said Roman.

But cultivating rice will soon bring joy to this couple and thousands of farmers as the government has launched a program called FIELDS to help them save on inputs and improve yield. FIELDS, which stands for Fertilizer, Irrigation, Extension, Loans, Dryers, and Seeds, is a strategic development framework that the Department of Agriculture (DA) is advancing to help realize the government’s goal of achieving rice self-sufficiency.

AFFORDABLE FERTILIZER
With the fertilizer subsidy of the program, farmers like the Balagats are expected to save on input cost. First, the program will help them save as much as much as P500 a hectare (ha) through discount coupons from their municipal agriculturists. Plus, the government has set aside P500 million from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund for fertilizer support and production, especially for organic fertilizers which is expected to help decrease the fertilizer cost of farmers.

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Posted on November 25th, 2008 under Rice. Tags: , , . Comments: None

LSU Dryer For Corn

In areas where corn is being produced in a large-scale, the regional offices of the Department of Agriculture are promoting the dryer developed by agricultural engineers of the Leyte State University (LSU) in Baybay, Leyte.

According to Ferdinand Matro, regional corn coordinator for the Ilocos Region, the LSU dryer has the following features:
1. Saves more than 50 percent in drying cost using biomass fuel, specifically rice husk and corn cobs.
2. Has a simple design and is made of locally available materials.
3. Its knock-down design facilitates fast installation in one day.
4. Fits inside a standard 6-meter warehouse.
5. There’s no need for excavation or any other modification in the place where it would be installed.

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Posted on November 4th, 2008 under Corn/Maize. Tags: , . Comments: None

Use of MACS Biomass Furnace Lessens Cost of Mechanical Drying

Save as much as P11,000 every day with MACS biomass furnace, an alternative source of energy used in fueling the mechanical dryer that is used in drying grains especially during the rainy season.

Designed by Dr. Manolito C. Bulaong of the Postharvest Engineering Department (PHED) of the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) for its Maize Aflatoxin Control System (MACS) project, the biomass furnace is cheaper to use than the diesel burner in heating the mechanical dryer.

Unlike the diesel burner which consumes 20 liters of diesel per hour at 85°C drying air temperature, the furnace utilizes both rice hull and corncobs as fuel. It has boiler tubes with a diameter of 2.5 inches which serve as heat exchanger and this produces a clean, smoke-free hot air. Its drying time ranges from 6 to 8 hours per batch at an initial moisture content ranging from 24 to 31 percent.
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Posted on October 11th, 2008 under Technology. Tags: , , . Comments: None

Kalinga Farmers Receive Flatbed Dryers

Tabuk City, Kalinga — Problems on wastage and loss in rice postproduction here are solved with the recent turn over of additional six flatbed dryers as part of the 23-unit flatbed dryer grant that the government has allotted for the province.

A component of the Ginintuang Masaganang Am (GMA) Rice program, this project aims to solve the problem on lack of postharvest facilities in the province which contributes much to the tremendous loss and wastage in rice postproduction. This is because farmers here have no other recourse but to dry their harvest along highways, resulting in a high margin of loss, heavy traffic and road accidents.

Early this year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has earmarked P1 billion for the installation of 1,000 flatbed dryers in the country to avert such practice which is prohibited by law and had cost farmers P30-billion postharvest losses annually.
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Posted on October 10th, 2008 under Rice, Technology. Tags: , . Comments: None

Producing Quality Dried Agri-fishery Products through Multi-commodity Solar Tunnel Dryer

Small Farmers and Fisherfolk with problems on overproduction during peak season have nothing to worry about. The Kababaihang Masigla ng Nareva Ecija (KMNE), processor of agricultural and fishery products, is looking for potential suppliers of commodities like tomato, tamarind, camias, guava, mushroom, soy beans, ginger; and small tilapia weighing 30 to 50 grams.

Based in flog Baliguag, Quezon, Nueva Ecija, the KMNE was organized in 2000 by its president, Vilma B. Joson, to provide livelihood for the wives of farmers to help these rural women earn additional income for their families.

Among the processed products of the KMNE are dried tomato sweets and jellies, tamarind sweets, hot and spicy and concentrated tamarind juice, sweetened karamay, ginger tea or salabat, tilapia danggit or tilanggit, rice wine, rice coffee, Soya coffee, Soya coffee with mushroom, dried and sweetened kamias, and mango. These products are already registered at the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).
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Posted on October 9th, 2008 under Aquaculture, Technology. Tags: . Comments: None

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