DA, IRRI promote solar bubble dryer in Cordillera

By Dalos Emok

Solar bubble dryers are now being promoted to dry heirloom rice grains even during the rainy season in the Cordillera.

The International Research Rice Institute (IRRI) in partnership with the Dept. of Agriculture-Cordillera introduced the SBD to farmers in postharvest trainings in Pasil, Kalinga; Bontoc, Mt. Province; Banaue, Ifugao and Kibungan, Benguet. 

Assistant scientist Joseph Sandro of IRRI led the SBA pilot testing and talks with farmers regarding on benefits and advantages of SBD for drying heirloom rice harvests.

“Itong teknolohiyang ito ay makakatulong sa farmers’ lalo na ngayong tag-ulan. With this kind of technology magkakaroon ka ng malinis na palay na kung naiprosesona sa milling equipment ay sigurado tayong walang mga duming napasama tulad ng bato and other foreign materials na magiging cause ng contamination sa ating mga palay. (This technology is essential to farmers which can ensure the quality and cleanliness of the product), Sandro added.

The technology was introduced by a student of Hohenheim University and underwent improvement and partnership with IRRI and Green Pro Inc.

One of its features is the solar powered machine that can save resources for farmers.

SBD provides ambient temperature provided by the heat of the sun.

The SBD has a drying tunnel made from plastic sheets with which is inflated by using 1 or 2 blowers driven by 220V power grid or 12V solar panels.

SBD can accommodate 500 to one thousand kilos of rice grains and can dry within 24 hours. It is a combination of air and sun drying which has a fan that provides air and the polyethylene plastic roof suited for sun drying.

The simplicity of the design suits different geographical locations in Philippines

During rainy season, palays are stock or piled which increases susceptibility to insect pest that causes molds. But with the SBD, the decrease in quality and quantity of postharvest can be prevented.

Sandro said that Cordillera is exporting traditional rice in Canada and USA and the demand for local market is increasing, thus, there is a need for a new intervention which can minimize losses during post-harvest. 

“Introducing this kind of technology to farmers is really important because we’re not just encouraging them to produce more traditional rice for the market but also we’re encouraging them to preserve the beauty of our culture attached to rice farming in the Cordillera,” said Gerardo P. Banawa, DA Rice Program Technical Support Staff.

“Talaga nga marigatan kami nga agbilag, karkaro nu kastoy nga panagtutudo.At least daytoy nalinis ken ado ti haan nga masayang kasta met nga mayat nga talaga karkaro nu mailako dagiti mula mi ngabagas (We really have a hard time to dry our rice grains, especially today, rainy season. Atleast this, technology, is clean and many will not be loss at the same time It’s really good specially if we’re going to sell our rice produce),” said Gary Aedang, a farmer from Kibungan.