Farmers in the Mekong Delta region should use rice drying-rooms toreduce production costs and improve quality of rice exports, expertshave recommended.
Ho Minh Khai, Director of Co DoAgriculture One Member Ltd Company and Co Do Farm in Can Tho city's CoDo district, said his company had built 63 rice drying rooms with acapacity of 12-15 tonnes, at a total cost of 12 billion VND (576,000USD).
He said the rice drying-rooms could dry and preserveabout 750-800 tonnes of rice per day, which can meet the demand of allrice-cultivation areas in the district, as well as other districts inKien Giang and Hau Giang provinces.
Co Do Farm cultivatestwo rice crops a year: winter-spring and summer-autumn. It covers anarea of 5,600ha, with an annual output of 60,000 tonnes, of whichhigh-quality rice accounts for 75 percent.
According toKhai, rice that is dried by being put on asphalt grounds under the sunis not of high quality and usually does not meet standards for export.
The use of drying rooms can improve preservation of the rice and its quality.
To ensure rice output, the company plans to buy all wet rice from farmers for drying and storing to prepare for export.
Ngo Sy Tien, Deputy Director of Song Hau Farm in Co Do district's ThoiHung village, said the farm had built more than 20 drying rooms with acapacity of 10-25 tonnes, meeting the demand of drying rice for farmersin the village.
The traditional way of drying rice outside on the ground consumes more money and human resources.
In addition, after harvesting, farmers are unable to dry a large volumeof rice under the sun in a short period of time, which can affect thequality of rice.
Tien said that a drying room with acapacity of 10-25 tonne costs about 200 million VND (9,600 USD), butfarmers can recover the capital after three years of operation.
The cost for drying one tonne of rice is 120,000 VND, around 30,000 VND cheaper than drying under the sun, according to Tien.
Duong Xuan Qua, Director of Nam Nha company that produces drying roomsin An Giang province's Long Xuyen city, said a drying-room includes aburning-oven system, and fans and conveyor belts to transfer rice intoand out of the drying room.
Huynh Hiep Thanh, director ofthe An Giang Agricultural Extension Centre, said An Giang province hasthe highest number of rice-drying rooms in the Delta region.
Every year, it dries about 1.3 million tonnes of rice, accounting for 70-80 percent of rice in the province.
Rice in the Delta accounts for 53 percent of the country's total rice output and 96 percent of exports.
Yet only 40 percent of the region's rice output is done through thesemachines, according to Le Van Banh, Head of the Cuu Long Delta RiceResearch Institute.
Banh said the rice post-harvesttechnology was still poor, with a loss-proportion of 13 percent,especially during the drying process.
If the drying process does not meet standards, farmers can incur a loss of 2 million tonnes of rice every year.
The current number of rice drying rooms meets only 40 percent of demandin the Mekong Delta region, which targets doubling the number to ensurea sufficient volume of exports.-VNA
Ho Minh Khai, Director of Co DoAgriculture One Member Ltd Company and Co Do Farm in Can Tho city's CoDo district, said his company had built 63 rice drying rooms with acapacity of 12-15 tonnes, at a total cost of 12 billion VND (576,000USD).
He said the rice drying-rooms could dry and preserveabout 750-800 tonnes of rice per day, which can meet the demand of allrice-cultivation areas in the district, as well as other districts inKien Giang and Hau Giang provinces.
Co Do Farm cultivatestwo rice crops a year: winter-spring and summer-autumn. It covers anarea of 5,600ha, with an annual output of 60,000 tonnes, of whichhigh-quality rice accounts for 75 percent.
According toKhai, rice that is dried by being put on asphalt grounds under the sunis not of high quality and usually does not meet standards for export.
The use of drying rooms can improve preservation of the rice and its quality.
To ensure rice output, the company plans to buy all wet rice from farmers for drying and storing to prepare for export.
Ngo Sy Tien, Deputy Director of Song Hau Farm in Co Do district's ThoiHung village, said the farm had built more than 20 drying rooms with acapacity of 10-25 tonnes, meeting the demand of drying rice for farmersin the village.
The traditional way of drying rice outside on the ground consumes more money and human resources.
In addition, after harvesting, farmers are unable to dry a large volumeof rice under the sun in a short period of time, which can affect thequality of rice.
Tien said that a drying room with acapacity of 10-25 tonne costs about 200 million VND (9,600 USD), butfarmers can recover the capital after three years of operation.
The cost for drying one tonne of rice is 120,000 VND, around 30,000 VND cheaper than drying under the sun, according to Tien.
Duong Xuan Qua, Director of Nam Nha company that produces drying roomsin An Giang province's Long Xuyen city, said a drying-room includes aburning-oven system, and fans and conveyor belts to transfer rice intoand out of the drying room.
Huynh Hiep Thanh, director ofthe An Giang Agricultural Extension Centre, said An Giang province hasthe highest number of rice-drying rooms in the Delta region.
Every year, it dries about 1.3 million tonnes of rice, accounting for 70-80 percent of rice in the province.
Rice in the Delta accounts for 53 percent of the country's total rice output and 96 percent of exports.
Yet only 40 percent of the region's rice output is done through thesemachines, according to Le Van Banh, Head of the Cuu Long Delta RiceResearch Institute.
Banh said the rice post-harvesttechnology was still poor, with a loss-proportion of 13 percent,especially during the drying process.
If the drying process does not meet standards, farmers can incur a loss of 2 million tonnes of rice every year.
The current number of rice drying rooms meets only 40 percent of demandin the Mekong Delta region, which targets doubling the number to ensurea sufficient volume of exports.-VNA
