Policy support for grain drying should be increased

Machine drying costs more than half less than manual sun-drying of grain

It is currently the summer grain harvest and storage season, and farmers in many places are suffering from rainy weather as they dry their grain. But Deng Shengwen, a large-scale grain grower in Jingkou Township, Nanchang County, Jiangxi Province, is not worried at all, because he bought a grain dryer.

“In the past, drying rice meant racing against the weather. The hard work goes without saying, but the biggest headache was the lack of space. If there was a lot of rain, the rice would easily sprout and rot, and half a year of hard work could be lost just like that.” Deng Shengwen said with deep feeling.

In 2011, Deng Shengwen contracted 10,000 mu of rice fields. Storms gather without warning, and during the late rice harvest that year, continuous rain meant the harvested rice could not be dried in time. More than 600 tons of rice became moldy and spoiled, with losses of nearly 600,000 yuan. Looking at the mountain of spoiled rice piled up in the warehouse, Deng Shengwen realized that relying on the heavens for a living was ultimately no solution. That year he made a one-time investment and bought 9 grain dryers, bidding farewell to many years of manual grain drying.

“Compared with traditional drying methods, mechanized drying operations are not limited by space or weather conditions, and greatly reduce the grain breakage rate and secondary contamination. After drying, the grain has a uniform moisture content, can be stored longer, and after processing has better color and quality.” introduced Jiang Jianhui, deputy director of the Nanchang County Grain Bureau.

“One dryer reduces the moisture content of 20 tons of rice from 30% to the national standard of 13.5%, at a cost of 1,200 yuan, while manual turning and sun-drying requires a 400 sq m drying yard and 8 laborers for more than 3 days of turning and drying, at a cost of about 2,800 yuan.” Deng Shengwen did the math.

Agricultural machinery purchase subsidies should be tilted toward grain drying machinery

Now, Deng Shengwen's grain dryers have increased to 26, with a daily drying capacity of 400 tons, and the rice area for which grain drying business has been signed with him has reached 50,000 mu.

However, although grain drying is welcomed by some large-scale grain growers, it has not been accepted by most grain farmers. “Drying equipment requires a large capital investment. Ordinary farmers with drying conditions will not consider drying, since every penny saved counts.” said Liu Changbao, a farmer in Jiangxiang Township, Nanchang County.

At present, the level of mechanization in grain planting and harvesting, irrigation, and field management in China is already relatively high, but the level of mechanized grain drying is less than 10%, while in countries such as Japan and the United States it is as high as more than 95%. The low level of grain drying mechanization and traditional drying cause huge post-harvest grain losses. Nanchang County produces more than 2 billion jin of grain annually and has more than 200 grain processing enterprises, but only a dozen or so have dryers, which is completely insufficient to meet demand.

“Drying is the ‘last kilometer’ in achieving full mechanization of grain production. The agricultural machinery purchase subsidy policy should be tilted toward grain drying machinery, and support should be increased for enterprises that invest in the grain drying market and benefit farmers.” said Yin Hongguang of the Nanchang County Agricultural Machinery Bureau.