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| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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'Cocoon', Hermetic storage system, the answer to paddy storage by a special correspondent Low farm-gate price during the harvesting season has become a common feature in Sri Lanka's rice sector and this phenomenon has effectively pressurised successive governments to take remedial measures to prevent farmers being exploited by the middlemen and collectors.
In many instances, the State organisations are compelled to purchase paddy from the farmer to stabilise market prices. However, one of the major obstacles to State purchasing mechanism has been the lack of proper storage facilities at the village level. Moreover, a considerable portion of the stored harvest is destroyed due to poor post harvest technologies adopted by the farming population. There are a number of storage techniques available. However, the major problems faced in storage of paddy are; * Infestation. * Paddy is generally sun dried. Therefore, uneven drying is a common occurrence, which promotes fungal development during storage. * Weight loss as a result of prolonged storage. Hermetic (Gas-Tight) Storage Systems for Better Storage - Hermetic storage has been used for thousands of years. People sealed grain in underground ceramic vessels, which are still being discovered with the contents intact. Traditional methods of underground hermetic storages are used today in the drier regions of several African and Asian countries.
Until now, twentieth century attempts to advance hermetic storage above ground failed because materials were not ultra violet radiation (UV) protected, were insufficiently impermeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide and because early designs were not based upon scientific entomology and field tests. However, these shortcomings have been arrested utilising the latest technologies and the first proper hermetic storage systems were developed at the Agricultural Research Organisation (Volcani Institute) of Israel around two decades ago. Hermetic (Gas-Tight) storage systems developed for long-term storage of grains have several advantages over conventional storage systems. They have been used in tropical countries during the last few decades and proved to be one of the best, if not the best answers to the burning question of improved storage of paddy and other grains. Several units of these storage systems each having a storage capacity of 50 Metric Tons have gone into the rice growing districts during early 2003 and they are being successfully used at the field level. Highly positive response received from the users of these systems is really encouraging. At Galamuna in Polonnaruwa District, over ten storage units, commonly called as "cocoons" have been used since early 2003 for storage of harvested paddy and also seed paddy. One farmer has stored his harvest for a period of eight months in a 50 MT cocoon and sold when the price was at the peak. Research work competed in Israel has shown that grains can be stored in these "cocoons" for well over ten years without any harm to the composition of the grain. Theory Behind hermetic Storage - Harvested paddy is always insect infested. Once paddy is dried and bagged insects too live in the bag of paddy. Insects in stored paddy in hermetically (gas tight environment) sealed "cocoon" keep on breathing, which makes the oxygen level inside the gas tight cocoon godown within a short period of time. 21% of oxygen, which prevails in the ambient atmosphere goes down to less that 1% within a period of 1-2 weeks and this makes the insects die within a short period due to lack of oxygen. This makes the stored paddy in "cocoons" insect free. Secondly, as there is no air movement within the "cocoon", which has an impermeable plastic liner, paddy stored under hermetic conditions will not lose weight. "Cocoon" for Paddy Storage in Sri Lanka - With the successful results obtained at several location in Sri Lanka during the last one year, it has been observed that hermetic storage system can play a major role in solving the storage problems of the paddy sector in Sri Lanka. |
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