Page 1 of 5

Concept Paper:

Grain Processing Complex

“Palay Dryer”

Prepared by:

Benedict Santos
 Page 2 of 5

I. Background of Palay Drying in the Philippines

Agricultural processing can be defined as an activity performed to maintain, improve or

change the form and characteristics of agricultural products. One common agricultural
process is drying, which is the process of reducing the moisture content to desired or safe
level. 1

The main advantages of drying include prevention of the growth of bacteria, fungi and the
development of insects and mites.1 In the case of rice paddy (“palay”), failure to dry grains
could result to excessive respiration and fungal growth causing grain discoloration and bad
quality. In the case of corn, failure to dry could result to the development of aflatoxin, which
is toxic and among the most carcinogenic substances known.

As per study of the International Rice Research Institute (”IRRI”}, drying increases the storage
life of palay. The table below shows the number of days that palay can be stored on certain
conditions. Moisture content of palay before drying ranges from 24% to 30% while it is only
14% to 16% after drying.

Safe storage days for paddy at different moisture content and ambient air temperature
Moisture contents
Ambient Air Temp (deg C) 14 16 18 20 24 28 30
38 18 12 6 2 0.5 0 0
32 40 30 15 5 1.5 1 0.5
27 110 80 48 22 3 2 1
21 150 102 65 40 5 3.5 2
(source: IRRI)
dry season without drying
wet season without drying
dry season (dried)
wet season (dried)

Philippine Setting

In the Philippines, it has been a common sight in the provinces to find farmers drying their
palay or grains on roads, highways and other pavements such as basketball courts. Most
farmers dry the grains by themselves through the conventional way of using solar heat. This
method, however, is unreliable and may become costly due to the unpredictability of the
weather especially during rainy seasons.

Farmers have an option to sell their produce even without drying. Farmers usually face the
dilemma of selling their produce without drying because of the immediate need for cash. The
difference in price, however, ranges from two pesos to five pesos (Hughes and Daglish 2005).
Moreover, delays in drying palay could result to excessive respiration and fungal growth
causing grain discolorations and bad quality. Hence, farmers earn lesser income because of
their inability to dry the palay quickly and with certainty.

1 Wilson Kwaku Kallai, Design, Development and Evaluation of a Continuous-Flow Mixing Grain Dryer, August 2011
2 Two-stage grain drying in the Philippines. Agnes Chupungco, Elvira Dumayas and John Mullen. ACIAR 2008
3 Pinoy invents post-harvest solar drying tray. The Philippines Star, June 27, 2013
 Page 3 of 5

Farmers have always been disadvantaged by the conventional drying process. Some of their
experiences shared and observed include:

 Drying on roads results to a large amount of losses due to vehicles running over the
grains, grains being swept by the wind, grains eaten by animals and sudden rain.
Moreover, drying on roads can be dangerous to motorists;
 Grains that are not dried within one to two days result to grain discoloration and bad
quality. Even traders would not want to buy these grains which end up as feeds to
chicken or ducks;
 Unpredictability of weather conditions in the Philippines makes conventional drying a
gamble for the farmers. At times, farmers were not able to pay their loans resulting
to losing their farm lands to formal or informal creditors.

Statistics

In 2008, total production of palay reached 16.2 million tons. Of this figure, only 14% or 2.2
million tons used machines for drying. The remaining 86% or 14 million tons used the
conventional way or solar heat to dry the palays.2

The 2008 and 2009 data from Philippine Center for Post Harvest Development and
Mechanization reveals that among the post-harvest activities, it is in the drying stage that the
greatest loss occurs. (see table below)

Updated quantitative postharvest losses of PADDY, four major producing provinces, two seasons, 2008-2009
(values in percentage)

Province
PH Losses Camarines Sur Iloilo Leyte Davao del Sur Mean

Harvesting 2.00 2.00 2.38 1.73 2.03

Piling 0.11 0.03 trace 0.17 0.08
Threshing 1.66 1.29 2.19 3.57 2.18
Drying 6.57 4.53 7.22 5.15 5.86
Storage 1.11 0.42 0.30 0.65 0.80
Milling 7.26 4.44 4.16 6.20 5.52

Total 18.71 12.71 16.25 17.47 16.47

The June 27, 2013 issue of The Philippine Star, the Bureau of Postharvest Research and
Extension (currently named “Philippine Center for Post Harvest Development and
Mechanization”) revealed that the country is experiencing an average of P15 billion perennial
post-harvest losses yearly. Their recent study shows that losses were mainly due to the old
and wasteful drying practices. Moreover, members of the Filipino Inventor’s Society (FIS) also

1 Wilson Kwaku Kallai, Design, Development and Evaluation of a Continuous-Flow Mixing Grain Dryer, August 2011
2 Two-stage grain drying in the Philippines. Agnes Chupungco, Elvira Dumayas and John Mullen. ACIAR 2008
3 Pinoy invents post-harvest solar drying tray. The Philippines Star, June 27, 2013
 Page 4 of 5

conclude that the pavement drying practice on highways and roads is one of the main reasons
for grains production losses. The Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension is an
attached agency of the Department of Agriculture.3

II. Grain Processing Complex Project (Palay Dryer)

There are several types of drying systems, which include:

 Continuous flow grain drying system – grain is continuously flowing through the dryer
without stopping;

o Crossflow – air flow is generally perpendicular to the grain flow. It produce

lower drying air temperature compared to the concurrent-flow and mixed-
flow dryer. This usually result to some grain quality issues;

o Concurrent-flow – both the air and the grain are moving in the same direction.
It has the advantage of using high air temperature without affecting the quality
of the grains;

o Mixed-flow – air flows in both counter and concurrent directions. It can use
high air temperature without grain damage since all grains are exposed to
same air temperature. This can be used to dry wide variety of grains.

 Batch drying – wherein a certain volume of grain is being dried at a time. This requires
loading and unloading time for each batch of grains;

o Batch dryer – requires more supervision and labor per bushel than other type
of dryers;

o High temperature bin dryer – same with the batch dryer but with the addition
of propane or natural gas heating units. Disadvantage include over drying of
grains.

The continuous drying system offers the lowest operating costs as compared to batch drying
systems. Its output has more uniformity in grain moisture content. Furthermore, the drying
capacity is higher if the same drying conditions were used.

III. Project Benefits

The use of the Palay Dryer will have several benefits to the farmers and country. Benefits
include:

a. Readily available drying facility – the Palay Dryer can perform the drying process
any time of the day or night on any weather condition. Whereas, conventional
methods can only be done during the day and when the sun is up.

1 Wilson Kwaku Kallai, Design, Development and Evaluation of a Continuous-Flow Mixing Grain Dryer, August 2011
2 Two-stage grain drying in the Philippines. Agnes Chupungco, Elvira Dumayas and John Mullen. ACIAR 2008
3 Pinoy invents post-harvest solar drying tray. The Philippines Star, June 27, 2013
 Page 5 of 5

b. More consistent and better quality of grains – Time gap between harvesting and
drying is lessen since the Palay Dryer is readily available. The lesser the time gap,
the better the quality of the grains. Moreover, drying is performed in a controlled
and measured environment resulting to a more consistent quality of palay.

c. More reliable income and possibility of higher returns for farmers – Although the
Palay Dryer requires additional cost, farmers can be assured on the timing and the
amount of their income. They do not need to gamble anymore on weather
conditions. Their losses on sun drying on roads and other pavements will be
eliminated. Their produce will be of high quality and possibly sell on higher prices.

d. Convenience for the farmers – farmers do not need to exert effort in spreading
and gathering the grains under the sun. They do not need to wait for good weather
before they can dry the grains.

e. Rice shortage alleviation – as per estimate of the National Food Authority, the
Philippines need to import around 5% of the total annual rice consumption.
However, wastage from drying activities of major rice producing provinces
accounted to 5.86% of the total rice produce. Drying facilities can help minimize
or even eliminate this wastage through controlled environment. Moreover, it will
significantly improve the quality of the grains and make it more suitable for
stocking.

f. Job generation – one unit of Palay Dryer requires at least 36 persons to operate
for a 90 day operation per year. In addition, building and installation of dryers will
also require manpower.

Using Palay Dryer will significantly help in the improvement of rice security in our country.
Furthermore, this will help protect the interest of the farmers from the effects of the ASEAN
Free Trade Area (AFTA) by making them competitive. The Palay Dryer will significantly
improve the quality of their produce and lessen their losses brought about by the
conventional way of drying.

1 Wilson Kwaku Kallai, Design, Development and Evaluation of a Continuous-Flow Mixing Grain Dryer, August 2011
2 Two-stage grain drying in the Philippines. Agnes Chupungco, Elvira Dumayas and John Mullen. ACIAR 2008
3 Pinoy invents post-harvest solar drying tray. The Philippines Star, June 27, 2013