Developing production and post harvest technologies for heirloom rice production in the Cordilleras

Issue Date

7-2018

Abstract

Heirloom rice are indigenous cultivars that have been passed down for generations through family members and are normally grown in small farms. They command higher prices in niche market locally/internationally mainly due to their excellent eating quality and nutritional value. However, potential is a lucrative livelihood is hindered by factors such as high labor demand in production and significant postharvest losses. To address such challenges, the Heirloom Rice Project introduced various farm machineries fitted for these small land holdings to mechanize land preparation and threshing operation. Testing and evaluation results of the machines recorded a significant reduction in time and labor. The field capacity of the micro tiller prototype was at 850 meters2/hr as compared to the traditional manual trampling at 50 meters2/hr. Moreover, an improved ouput of 470 kg/hr using the mini thresher was achieved from only 17 kg/hr with manual threshing. Cost analysis indicated that manual land preparation at PhP 2.35/ meters2 can be reduce to Php 0.45/ meters2 with micro tiller. Meanwhile, the cost of PhP 2.57/kg paddy threshing through flailing or manual pounding can be trimmed down to PhP 1.48/kg using the mini thresher. To maximize the usefulness of these equipment, their design should be further optimized in terms of efficiency, ease of use, and portability to suit the Cordillera terrain. Along with mechanization, postharvest technology for heirloom rice was developed through a two-way process. Existing best farming practices were documented while simultaneously identifying areas for improvement. A location-specific package of technology was generated combining such farming practices with recommended methods in each specific postharvest process like proper timing of harvest, appropriate drying practice, milling, proper storage, and packaging techniques. These are now translated into technology flipcharts as an IEC material to facilitate a more efficient transfer of knowledge from development workers to farmer beneficiaries.

Source or Periodical Title

Philippine Journal of Crop Science

ISSN

0115-463X

Volume

43

Issue

Supplement no. 1

Page

121

Document Type

Article

College

College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS)

Language

English

Subject

Oryza sativa L.; Rice varieties; Rice production

En – AGROVOC descriptors

ORYZA SATIVA; VARIETIES; INDIGENOUS ORGANISMS; PLANT PRODUCTION; TECHNOLOGY; POSTHARVEST EQUIPMENT; TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER; SITE PREPARATION; TERRACES; PHILIPPINES

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