Gov’t urged to promote solar dryers
A local inventors’ cooperative leader is urging the government to promote honest-to-goodness efficient post-harvest solar dryers, and to discourage solar dryers that are convertible to basketball courts which sometimes leads to unnecessary vehicular accidents caused by highway or roadside palay (unhusked rice) and corn drying.
Francisco “Ka Popoy” Pagayon, chairman of the Filipino Inventors Society Producers Cooperative (FISPC), said there is growing frustration among motorists passing through national highways in agriculutural provinces all over the country over the irksome practice of farmers in the countryside of drying their crops, whether palay, corn or coffee beans, on the roadside or highway pavement, inconveniencing motorists.
“These traditional drying is still being resorted to by our farmers in the countryside because the usual post-harvest solar dryers that are mere cement slabs are regularly turned into basketball courts or used for some public events,” Pagayon pointed out.
“This will get worse later this year and especially next year during the campaign season when these solar dryers will be used as campaign rally venues,” Pagayon said.
Aside from being the cause of vehicular accidents, the roadside or highway pavement crop drying is also the culprit in grains production losses.
Pagayon said that this concern was the reason for his development of a multipurpose post-harvest solar speed-drying thermal tray called Portasol.
“The Portasol is a simple solution to an old problem and an immediate response to the cry of all our farmers for simple, easy, more effective and indigenous dryers that will put an end to the country’s extensive perennial post-harvest losses,” Pagayon said.
Portasol is targeted to be introduced nationwide to revolutionize the entire post-harvest system through a simple and affordable, yet dramatically effective and efficient method.
The Portasol tray drying system, Pagayon said, is more effective, more efficient and reliable and evidently two to three times faster as compared to the conventional practice of pavement drying.
Considerable ease and convenience in collecting, re-sacking and storing dried grains is also observed.
Satisfactory drying quality is obtainable even if the trays are stacked five to 10 tiers high although drying time in this case is almost twice as long, and is recommended only when space is limited.
Pagayon’s invention is practical and convertible for drying palay, corn, beans, vegetables, fruits, and fish ( daing).
Using Portasol also prevents pest infestation.