Management Case

Palay had been the chief source of food here in the Philippines. Due to the vast rice field that our country had, especially in the Central Luzon region, the supply of palay had not been much of a problem. Our farmers, if not much, can provide us just enough for our demand of rice.

Before we came to eat the rice on our plates, its source which is the palay had undergone a lot of process from planting its seeds up to its cooking. Somewhere in between, palay had to be stored so that it can be used in the future. As we can see, proper storage had been an important task for the farmers or that of the rice traders because if not done properly, it would definitely be a problem.

In the storing of palay for future use, a lot of factors had to be considered. Proper time of harvest, for example, is one of those. Afterwards, it would be threshedand then dried. In this study, we focus on the drying of palay which is a significant issue in its storage.

Naturally, after the paddy had been harvested the next process would be to dry it because it contains higher moisture content which makes it vulnerable to certain problems like rotting. As the paddy is harvested, it will be stored for a quite longer time before it is needed for consumption that is why it needs to be dried before storage.

Traditionally, here in the Philippines, the harvested wet paddies are being dried under the sun. Drying under the sun or what is known as solar drying requires a large paved area like road which our fellow farmers are actually using. But this does not end in laying those palay on the road. The palay needs to be constantly mixed using a rake so as to avoid uneven drying because this may result in a lower head rice yield. This drying process may require manpower on mixing and some of the palay may be even wasted due to natural conditions like wind and the occasional passing of the vehicles which cannot be avoided. This may even pose a room