NEED AND METHODS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY AND REDUCE RICE LOSSES DURING RICE PRODUCTION IN MEKONG RIVER DELTA pptx

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NONG LAM UNIVERSITY WORKSHOP NEED AND METHODS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY AND REDUCE RICE LOSSES DURING RICE PRODUCTION IN MEKONG RIVER DELTA CAN THO

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NONG LAM UNIVERSITY

WORKSHOP

NEED AND METHODS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY AND REDUCE RICE LOSSES DURING RICE PRODUCTION IN

MEKONG RIVER DELTA

CAN THO CITY, JUNE 2006

CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

The objectives of workshop

Introduction of CARD-06/VIE05 Project

(Dr Truong Vinh)

Summary

Description of project

PART 1 Common discussion on need and methods to improve quality and reduce losses

in rice production in Mekong River Delta (MRD)

Need and methods to improve quality and reduce losses in rice production in MRD

Dr Hoang Bac Quoc

Need and methods to improve quality and reduce losses in rice production in Soc Trang Province

Tran Thi Phung Nga

Need and methods to improve quality and reduce losses in rice production in Tien Giang Province

Tran Minh Tuan

The fact and solutions of mechanization of harvest and post-harvest methods in MRD

MPhil Tong Huu Thuan

PART 2 Presentation of techniques: harvesters, driers, and millers

Harvesters – from the view of manufacturers

Nguyen Dinh Ba

The development in rice processing industry in Mekong River Delta

Bui Phong Luu and Nguyen The Ha

Harvesting by combined harvester in Soc Trang Province

Duong Minh Hoang

Paddy harvesting mechanization of Soc Trang Province

Tran Thi Phung Nga

Drying Engineering in Mekong River Delta in the last and the next 15 years

Dr Phan Hieu Hien

Milling activities in Tien Giang Province

Tran Minh Tuan

The fact and solutions of mechanization in paddy harvesting in Ben Tre Province

Ben Tre Extension Center

The fact and solutions of mechanization in post harvesting in Hau Giang Province

Hau Giang Extension Center

OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP

Project “Investigation of rice kernel and its control in the field and during post harvest

processes in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam” is a part of Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural

Development Program (CARD) between Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural

Development (MARD) and Australian Agency of International Development (AusAID) The

aim of this project is to help small Vietnamese household farmers to improve the rice quality

and price in order to raise their income level The project will be implemented through some

selected cooperatives Service providers and extension workers will also benefit from this

project by improving their knowledge and widening working opportunities

The project will conduct some investigations in relation to controlling kernel cracking both in

the field and post-harvest operations in Mekong River Delta (MRD) in the next 3-year period,

from March 2006 to March 2009 The cracking is a cumulative effect of many factors, from

harvesting (cutting, threshing), drying to milling Experiments and investigations will be

conducted in the field in order to evaluate the kernel cracking and losses due to harvesting

methods The experiments will be on diverse rice varieties in different seasons Current drying

systems in MRD will be studied and experimented to assess performance and efficiency of

drying process The results from this project will be disseminated through extension officers

from provincial extension centres

In order to achieve those objectives, the workshop “Need and methods to improve quality and

reduce rice losses in rice production in Mekong River Delta” was organized to discuss the

current circumstances and to highlight the needs of harvest and post-harvest technology in rice

production in MRD by professional and useful contribution of representatives from provincial

Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development and extension centers, as well as from

producers The workshop will highlight advantages and disadvantages of each technology and

development trends in the future It will also figure out the relationship between the control of

rice kernel cracking and increase in rice quality and value Organizing the workshop before

commencement of the project will help to summarize important concerns through experiences

of previous projects Thus, this project will concentrate on more important and realistic

problems

Dr Truong Vinh HoChiMinh City University of Nong Lam Coordinator of CARD-026/VIE05 Project

SUMMARY ON THE WORKSHOP

“Need and methods to improve the quality and reduce rice losses during rice production in

Mekong River Delta (MRD) “(Can Tho city, June 2006)

The workshop consisted two main parts, i.e., the common discussion on the need and methods

to improve the quality and reduce losses in rice production in the MRD and the technical aspects on harvesting, drying and milling For the common discussion, the reports of MRD Rice Research Institute (MRD-RRI) and Post-harvest handling sub-component unit in MRD (PHSCU) were representative for the regional level, and the reports of Soc Trang and Tien Giang were representative for the provincial level For the technical discussion, the harvesting, drying and milling were prepared by Vinappro Company, Nong Lam University, and Bui van Ngo Company, respectively Other reports from provincial level such as Ben Tre, Hau Giang, etc, were also involved

According to MRD-RRI, there was about 500-600 reapers for the whole MRD This number is too small compared to the demand of mechanical harvesting, i.e., most of rice harvesting by hand The threshing has been mechanized over 95% Manual cutting with mechanical threshing required half day to complete a hectare resulted in 3-6% losses The report of PHSCU showed 10-15% total post-harvest losses The farmers have been aware of the benefit from mechanical drying over sun drying since 2002 However, the reason of high losses was due to inappropriate drying procedures of the users PHSCU proposed to build the specific production areas with one or two rice varieties They also proposed to establish a connection between the farmers, industrial producers, scientists and the governors in order to improve the quality of rice production The Soc Trang extension center reported a total post-harvest loss of 13.38% for the year 2003 They calculated the demand for harvesters and dryers was 100 and

900 units, respectively, by the year 2010 They proposed to organize the chains from buying the paddy to drying, milling and consuming at provincial level The Tien Giang extension center reported a 4.5% of losses due to harvesting They said that harvesting in Tien Giang was always late due to the lack of labors and harvesters The mechanical drying contributed 25% of the paddy drying The milling got problems of uneven grain quality and old equipments They proposed to improve the farmers knowledge on rice cultivation related to appropriate post-harvest technology They also proposed the government to have a preferential policy on finance for the farmers to invest the equipments for mechanization of rice production

The Vinappro company commented on their experiences in developing process of the combined harvesters Most of the rice fields in the MRD have small size which are suitable for medium and small scale harvesters Soft soil base is another problem challenged the moving of harvesters The company has targeted to solve this problem by manufacturing a light harvester and they have got some initial good results The Bui van Ngo company focused on analysis of milling technology The energy consumption of current systems is about 35-38kWh for milling

1 ton of paddy For standard rice condition, 8% of broken grain is the contribution of the whole milling process This means that a good paddy milled by a moderate quality milling plant can have 60% head rice yield (HRY) In other words, a HRY below 60% is a result of either bad milling machines or bad post-harvest handling of rice They proposed to establish the milling systems of MRD as large scale exported milling systems with capacity of 300 000 to 500 000

ton/year In addition, milling cost can be reduced by using rice husk for energy as well as producing ethanol from small broken rice kernels

Nong Lam University reported the drying technology in MRD in the last and next 15 years Mechanical drying is clearly efficient but not enough to convince the farmers The number of the dryers has increased recently but still far from the demand The government should control strongly on the drying technology The scientists and producers have to work harder to change the mind of the farmers

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NONG LAM UNIVERSITY

WORKSHOP

SUMMARY OF ONE YEAR IMPLEMENTATION

OF CARD026/VIE05 PROJECT DISCUSSIONS ON THE MODEL TO INCREASE BENEFITS OF POOR FARMERS FROM THE ADVANCES OF HARVEST AND POST HARVEST

TECHNOLOGIES

HOCHIMINH CITY, JUNE 2007

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

(15/06/2007)

7:30-8:00 Welcome section

8:00-8:05 Declaration the reason of workshop – Introduction the delegates, participants

8:05-8:15 Speech of the Board of Rector Dr Trinh Truong Giang

8:15-8:20 Introduction of workshop program Dr Truong Vinh

8:20-8:35 Report of harvesting time experiments BSc Tran Nguyen Ha Trang

8:40-8:55 Report of harvesting methods experiments MEng Tran Van Khanh

9:00-9:15 Report of drying experiments Dr Phan Hieu Hien

9:20-9:35 Report of milling experiments MEng Lam Thanh Hung

9:40-10:20 Discussion

10:25-10:45 Report of Tan Phat A cooperative -Kien Giang Its representative

10:50-11:05 Summary and development orientation Dr Truong Vinh

11:10-12:20 Speech of economists

11:30-12:20 Discussion

12:25-12:30 Closing (the discussion can be continued at 1:30pm if not finished in the

morning)

HoChiMinh City, June 15th 2007

Dr Truong Vinh

SUMMARY OF WORKSHOP

“SUMMARY OF ONE YEAR IMPLEMENTATION OF CARD026/VIE05 PROJECT -

DISCUSSIONS ON THE MODEL TO INCREASE BENEFITS OF POOR FARMERS FROM THE ADVANCES OF HARVEST AND POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGIES “

The workshop gathered participations, reports, and experiences from experts in this field of Nong Lam University, Provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, extension centers, and representatives of cooperatives in Mekong River Delta (MRD) The reports of this workshop concentrated on the main topics of this project as well as the rice production situation in MRD namely effects of harvesting time, harvesting methods, and drying on losses of rice The evaluation of current situation of milling and drying equipments used in MRD was reported Improvement of the drying performance of the flat-bed dryers and their technical aspects were also discussed

1 Effects of harvesting time

The experiments for this study were conducted in three locations namely Can Tho, Kien Giang, and An Giang in diverse varieties at different seasons The results from surveys generally showed that most households did not harvest at optimum period of rice growing time (50-90% farmers harvest late 1-3 days due to lack of labors) In addition, the experiments also demonstrated that both harvesting time and variety affected rice quality indicated by kernel cracking and head rice yield (HRY) factors For most varieties, generally, harvesting after Maturity Day (MD) (90 days for OM1490, OM2718, AG24 and 98 days for Jasmin variety) had higher grain cracking and lower HRY compared to harvesting before MD After MD, the later harvesting time, the higher grain cracking was The workshop also recommended farmers cultivating the rice variety for low grain cracking such as AG24 and be careful in correct harvesting time with high cracking variety such as OM1490, and suggested to disseminate widely these results to the farmers through workshops, extension sections and trainings Furthermore, because of late harvesting due to labor shortage, organizing labors in each local, mechanizing in harvesting activities were concerned in this workshop as well

In conclusion, harvesting time is one of the most important factors controlling grain cracking and HRY

2 Effects of harvesting methods

Reports of experiments on harvesting methods demonstrated that manual harvesting was currently the popular technique in all places The report presented results of grain cracking and HRY of different harvesting methods on some varieties, in Spring-Summer season (06/07) in Can Tho and Long An The outcomes of this experiment showed that harvesting by machine gave higher HRY than that of manual harvesting Moreover, mechanical harvesting was able to shorten time for harvesting, which reduced the impacts of weather, as well as cracking due to late harvesting (mentioned above) However, because of capital shortage, farmers could not self-mechanize Thus through this workshop, the project highlighted financial support for equipping reapers and combined harvesters for cooperatives Those equipments will be also used in training and extension sections

3 Shattering losses during harvest and threshing losses

Besides factors that affected losses above, losses due to threshing and field shattering were also concerned in this workshop The results showed that no matter what threshing method (manual and mechanical) was, HRY would be declined However, mechanical threshing gave better result with higher HRY In addition, another factor (despite not related to grain cracking), shattering could cause loss This loss was 1-4% Result indicated that late harvesting could increase shattering losses too Moreover, harvesting by reapers and combined harvesters had lower shattering losses compared to manual harvesting

In conclusion, with benefits from different aspects, mechanical harvesting helps to reduce losses From this, one view gained from this workshop is that mechanization of harvesting is the indispensable tendency for rice production development

4 Effects of drying on grain cracking and HRY

Dry report presented preliminary results of this experiment, in which comparison the HRYs of different drying methods, the HRYs of mechanical drying and traditional drying technique – sun drying and field drying Although inlet parameters of this experiment were not consistent, HRYs of mechanical drying were 2.17-6.03% higher than that of sun drying This result was compatible with that of previous studies, in which field drying reduced HRY 8% In general, loss due to sun and field drying was about 8.7% However, the workshop clarified that more experiments need to be done in next seasons to accurately evaluate losses of sun drying and benefits of mechanical drying, aiming to figure out suitable solutions

5 Effects of milling on HRY

Information and data of milling practices in Tien Giang and Kien Giang were also reported in this workshop Most milling plants (more than 95%) were at small and medium scale In fact, levels of investment and equipments were not synchronous, that led to low rice quality To be detail, large milling plants provided much higher HRY compared to that of medium and small ones (55% compared to 51%) Therefore, size of milling plant is also a factor reducing losses The workshop determined that in order to temporarily fix that situation, it is necessary to limit the development of small plants and to multiply medium plants at each local Moreover, through extension programs and workshops like this, extension officers, milling owners, and farmers are able to update information in this field aiming to enhance product quality

6 Evaluation of total losses

Total losses for the whole harvest to post-harvest processes were presented Draft values of 9-19% losses were estimated where losses due to drying and harvesting method need to be conducted more experiments for accurate evaluation The workshop mentioned that by improvement the rice production practices such as no field drying, on time harvesting, correct drying application, etc, a reduction of 7% losses can be obtained By taking only the paddy produced in the Summer-Autumn of the MRD as 5 millions ton, this reduction of losses is estimated to be equivalent to 60 million USD