VALUE ADDITION THROUGH

POSTHARVEST OPERATIONS
Agricultural Crop Value Chain
Objectives of Postharvest Operations
To prolong shelf-life/delay deterioration
E.g. Drying of grapes to raisins
To add value to raw product
Drying and milling of paddy rice to milled rice
to reduce the incidence of pests and diseases on harvested produce
Drying of cassava to minimize aflatoxin production. Aflatoxin is a mildly toxic
substance generally produced by fungi
To create new products from one crop
Drying of coconut meat to copra. Copra is then processed further for oil and
feeds
Stripping of abaca tuxies for production of ropes.
Levels of crop processing

Primary processing
Examples are drying and milling
Intended to prepare raw product for secondary processing
Secondary processing
Rubber Industry Value Chain

Image taken from DTI (2015)

Image taken from DA-Region V (2013)
Abaca Post Harvest Operations

Tuxying
Efficient in terms of higher recovery of tuxy and bigger production per
unit of time
 Stripping
extracting the fiber from abaca
tuxies using abaca stripper
 DRYING TERMS
Drying
Removal of moisture from crop to a desired moisture
content
Moisture content, wet basis (MC w.b.)
amount of moisture in the grain expressed as percentage of
the total weight of the sample, wet basis
weight of water in a product per unit weight of the wet
material

MC (wb) = amount of moisture/ weight initial

= (Weight initial bone dry weight)/ weight initial
 Moisture content, dry basis (MC db)
weight of water in a product per unit weight of the
dry matter

MC db = amount of moisture/ bone dry weight

= (Weight initial bone dry weight)/ bone dry weight

Initial weight = amount of moisture/ MC wb

Bone dry weight = amount of moisture/ MC db

Example
You are supplied with two bags of corn each weighing 1.0tonne. One bag has
corn of 25% dry basis and the other contains corn of 25% wet basis. Which bag
contains more dry matter?

ANSWER: Corn with 25% MC(db)

Weight loss due to drying - During drying,
paddy grain will lose weight due to loss of
moisture

Wf = final weight MCf= final weight

Wi = initial weight Mci = initial weight

1 metric ton of paddy rice is harvested and was dried until it reached 872 kg.
What is the moisture content in wet basis of the dried paddy rice?
ANSWER: 14% MC (wb)

MC (wb) = (1000 kg 872 kg)/ 1000 kg

= .014 or 14%
 2500 kg of newly harvested paddy rice is dried until it reached 14% MC
(wb). What is the final weight of the paddy rice after drying?
ANSWER: 2,180 kg
MOISTURE CONTENT
DETERMINATION

Primary Methods
Oven dry method
Secondary method
Use of electronic moisture meter
 Drying Methods
Traditional Sun Drying
Traditional drying systems are still practiced
in many areas because of its low cost and
ease of management. These include
methods, such as:
Sun drying - spreading grains under the sun, on mats and pavements
Mat drying - used in small to medium-scale drying where threshed grain are
placed on mats, nets, or canvas
Pavement drying - often used in large-scale drying for grain collectors and
millers, where grains are laid on pavements specifically made for drying
Field drying and stacking - a method for pre-drying hand-harvested crops
before threshing where farmers cut rice panicles in the field and stacked
them in small piles on top of the crop stubble
Mechanical drying

Heated air drying - employs high temperatures for rapid drying. The drying
process is terminated when the desired final moisture content is reached. It
uses the following types of dryer:
Batch dryer - can be used by farmers, contractors, and small rice mills
Re-circulating batch dryer - can be used by commercial rice mills and
cooperatives
Continuous flow dryer - not very common, but used by some larger billing
enterprises that handle large volumes of wet paddy
Low-temperature drying or in-store drying - controls the relative humidity
rather than the temperature of the drying air so that all grain layers in the
deep bed reach equilibrium moisture content. This can be done using the
In/store dryer - produces very high quality grains but requires long drying time,
i.e., four days to two weeks
Required MC for Storage
IMPROPER STORAGE

Improper storage will result in

deterioration and fungal growth
Aflatoxin main product of fungal
growth