After several years of efforts, slowed down by limited resources, plus the arrival of Covid-19, at kilometer 12 of the road to La Coloma, a modern rice dryer already has use value to promote the cereal program in the Pinar del Río province.
Even though some work objects remain to be completed, the facility began the first stage of its implementation and is already processing crops from neighboring cooperatives.
Projected by the Minag Engineering and Projects Company (Enpa) and executed by the Attai Brigade Two, the site is envisioned as a complex capable of closing production cycles once all the equipment is ready.
To date, the dryer is a labor collective of 12 workers, subordinated to the UEB Enrique Troncoso of the Agroindustrial Grain Company (Eaig) Los Palacios. Jesús Maurence Díaz, in charge of the structure, explains that one of the perspectives is also having machinery to provide services to producers.
“This project arose from the development that rice had several years ago. We now have 1,070 hectares in the area known as La Guapa, which borders the drying area and where 39 usufructuaries directly linked to us will work.
“We already have almost 200 cleared hectares that are even being prepared for planting this campaign,” emphasizes Maurence Díaz, who has been dedicated to the industry for more than 40 years.
He adds that the fundamental thing for cultivation is water. Several years ago in the area they irrigated with groundwater that causes an increase in salinity and they were forced to suspend planting.
Today they have guaranteed waterlogging irrigation with the El Punto dam, a nearby reservoir with a capacity of 90 million cubic meters that is hardly exploited and since it is fresh water, salinity decreases.
“This year 174 ha were planted, which is the crop we are processing. The average distance between the field and the dryer is 12 kilometers. Previously, when it was harvested, it had to be taken to the Palaces.
“What is expected is that all the rice production from Pinar del Río, San Luis and San Juan y Martínez that is contracted with us will be processed here,” he said.
TECHNOLOGY, SAVINGS, QUALITY
The Chinese-made equipment has the capacity to process 37 tons of wet rice per day and has two silos of 500 tons each, which serve as finished product warehouses.
Through a modern whiteboard, the productive flow of the plant is visualized and controlled. The different functions of sieves, sieves, cleaning machines and storage conditions allow the beneficiation process to have a higher quality, avoiding the yellow color of the grain, excess moisture and impurities.
Diesel is not used in the dryer, but includes a burner capable of operating with the rice husk itself, which means considerable fuel savings.
Maurence Díaz details the process from when the product arrives from the field and is weighed on the scale at the entrance, goes up to the receiving hopper and is unloaded in the silo so that it is subjected to the cleaning and drying process through the conveyors, until it reaches the optimum temperature for its storage, which ranges between 12.7 and 13.5 percent.
“The mill is about to start up, it just needs a few connections. In this area we rescue the husk that serves as fuel and we also obtain industrial dust, highly demanded by the Porcine.
“We still need to build the finished production warehouse, another for by-products and workshops for mechanics and electricians, as well as a parking lot for machinery,” he said.
THE IMPACT WE NEED
The head of the labor group affirms that to the extent that the country can deliver a greater volume of resources that help improve the conditions of the campaign, the new location will have a positive result, not only to contribute to feeding the people but to reduce the current prices of the grain in the informal market.
According to Maurence Díaz, the start-up of the dryer will have a notable impact, since it becomes a source of employment for local people, it will bring the industry closer to the producer and it will reduce the cost of fuel that the long transportation entailed.
“All the workers reside in the community. We took this into account, fundamentally so as not to depend on transportation, since we have suffered the experience of the pandemic and other situations that have made it difficult for the workforce to access. That’s why we also plan to train mechanics and electricians right here.
“We will have a productive group to directly attend to the different activities of the producers, and they will be together with them supporting irrigation and phytosanitary issues.”
With the expectation of reaching some 8,000 tons of wet paddy rice, once the complex is fully exploited, the province’s rice program would be receiving a considerable boost and a positive impact on the table of Pinar del Río.
