Preserving agricultural products after harvest: Many difficulties remain

(Baonghean) -Most farmers and production and business establishments harvest and process by manual methods. The capacity to research and manufacture machinery for preservation, processing and harvesting in our country is still limited... Therefore, the economic loss after harvesting agricultural products such as corn, peanuts, rice, vegetables, beans... is quite large.

Mr. Tran Tuan in hamlet 5, Dinh Son commune (Anh Son) dries corn by hand.

We returned to Dinh Son - Anh Son commune in early April, when the winter corn harvest season was in full swing on the Lam River alluvial land. Ms. Nguyen Thi Ly, hamlet 3, Dinh Son, was picking corn and said: This crop had a good corn harvest, averaging over 3 quintals/sao, but the winter harvest was harvested in a rainy and sunny weather, the corn could not be dried in the sun, the kernels were damp and had to be moldy, so they had to be sold at a low price. Ms. Ly did the math: My family grew 3 sao and got 9 quintals of corn, but 1 quintal was damaged due to mold, the rest was not dried properly so it was only sold at 3,500 VND/kg of corn, for 2.8 million VND (just the mold damage to 1 quintal of corn cost 350,000 VND). Mr. Tran Tuan in Hamlet 5 Dinh Son - a facility specializing in purchasing corn said: "This winter crop, my facility purchased over 30 tons of corn for people. Because the weather has been cloudy these past few days, most of the people have sold fresh corn to us, the price ranges from 3,500 - 3,800 VND/kg of fresh corn. We have to invest in buying hundreds of square meters of tarpaulin to spread out to dry corn for 2 - 3 days and then sell it to "brokers" in Hanoi and Hai Phong." Mr. Tuan added: The corn purchasing profession is quite risky, because when it rains and is cold for a long time, it cannot be dried and sometimes it can be sold at a loss. I asked Tuan why he did not invest in a furnace to dry corn, Mr. Tuan explained: Drying corn with electricity and coal technology like some northern provinces is expensive, so we have to take advantage of it to dry and sell it to make a profit.

Along the Lam River alluvial communes, many households are having corn stagnation due to the weather, such as Mr. Tran Van Kien's household in Thach Son who harvested 2.5 tons of moldy corn, but was only able to sell 1.7 tons, and Ms. Vi Binh's household in Hamlet 5, Hoa Son Commune harvested 1.5 tons of corn but was only able to sell 1 ton.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu - Chairman of Dinh Son Commune People's Committee said: The whole commune of Dinh Son has over 200 hectares of corn, the most difficult is still winter corn, due to the weather, although the corn crop is good, reaching a yield of 6 tons/ha, but because the corn is moldy, it still suffers economic losses. The commune recommends that people during the corn harvest period need to regularly monitor the weather so that when harvesting, when the corn is brought home, it is not soaked by rain. The commune hopes that the district will have a post-harvest processing facility such as building a large drying oven specializing in drying corn so that farmers no longer have to worry when the harvest comes.

Head of Anh Son Agriculture Department, Mr. Nguyen Cong The said: Anh Son is the province's corn granary with an area of ​​over 3,000 hectares of corn. Post-harvest preservation has encountered many difficulties but has not been overcome. Mainly, people sell fresh corn to purchasing facilities or dry it manually. Previously, some households invested in drying ovens but due to high costs, they did not use them.

Not only corn, peanuts also face many difficulties after harvest. Dien Thinh peanuts (Dien Chau) have long been considered the top quality in the province, however, post-harvest preservation has not been good, leading to products not meeting export standards, mainly private traders buying and exporting through unofficial channels to China and often being forced to lower prices. Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh in Hamlet 9, Dien Thinh Commune - Dien Chau confided: Growing 4 sao of peanuts, the average yield is 1.8 quintals/sao, after harvesting we often store them to "wait for the price", but because the storage place for peanuts is not guaranteed, after only 1-2 months the peanuts often lose color and become damp, so when selling, private traders are often picky and force down the price.

Corn, peanuts, vegetables, and even oranges, processing to increase value is still very limited. Thanks to the application of technical advances in intensive farming, the average yield of orange gardens in Yen Khe, Con Cuong, Minh Hop - Quy Hop is high. With a large orange output, post-harvest orange preservation is very important for orange growers, ensuring that oranges stay fresh for a long time, sell at a good price and are not toxic to consumers. The 2013 orange crop in Yen Khe commune was due to ripe oranges, while the consumption output was difficult, leading to a situation where fruits fell in large numbers, while people were not instructed on post-harvest preservation technology, causing significant economic losses. For example, Mr. Nguyen Hoa's family in Tan Huong village lost over 30 tons of Van Du oranges, the whole commune had 50 hectares of oranges that fell and damaged over 100 tons. Even in the orange specialized growing area of ​​Xuan Thanh Agricultural Company Limited, during the orange ripening season, a large amount of damaged fruits occurred. Nguyen Minh Ly in Minh Hop commune - Quy Hop (belonging to Xuan Thanh Agricultural Company Limited) said: There were times when the oranges were spoiled because they could not be sold in time, like in 2013, his family planted 3 hectares of oranges but 500 kg were spoiled, the average price was 35,000 VND/kg of oranges.

Mr. Tuan Bay in Hamlet 2, Dien Thinh - Dien Chau, proposed a good solution for peanut preservation. Although peanuts are dried, if they are stacked in bags in the warehouse, they will still get moldy. The best way to preserve peanuts is to store them in silos. Silos are made of cylindrical tubes, with a pyramid-shaped bottom 30 - 35 cm high and a tight lid to keep peanuts in a sealed or cold state. Silo materials are usually made of metal or enameled metal. Silos are widely used in India to mainly store rice and peanuts, reducing product damage and labor costs. In Dien Thinh, there are currently dozens of peanut purchasing businesses, but no one has invested in silos because the cost is quite high. A silo can hold 20 tons of peanuts, worth 150 - 200 million VND.

As for oranges, it is known that in the past 2 years, orange growers in Bac Cam district, Ha Giang province have used post-harvest technology by spraying Kivica on trees. The oranges have slowed down the ripening process and ripened unevenly on the same tree and garden, extending the harvest time by 1 month compared to the normal ripening orange crop. Spraying Kivica can be applied well to the early ripening orange area of ​​Van Du variety in Yen Khe - Con Cuong. In addition, people in Ha Giang also preserve oranges using semi-permeable technology, using BOQ - 15 by rubbing the preparation evenly on the oranges and then storing them in storage. This technology has the advantage of being non-toxic, and after the preservation process, the oranges can still be used immediately. Mr. Vi Van Dau - Chairman of the People's Committee of Yen Khe commune, Con Cuong said: If oranges can be preserved after harvest, it will not cause damage to orange growers and will reduce the worry of a good harvest but low prices.

It can be said that post-harvest preservation of agricultural products is one of the most important steps in the production process, both preserving the products from damage and increasing the value of the products, creating a stable supply when selling them to the market. Therefore, farmers are in great need of investment from related sectors in research on post-harvest science and technology, supporting both financially and with knowledge to meet the requirements for preserving products and improving the quality of agricultural products.

Van Truong