THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has procured and installed 500 out of the 1,000 flatbed dryers it was planning to put up in 37 rice-producing provinces across the country this year.

The Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE), an attached agency under the DA, said that as of May 5, it installed at least 53 flatbed dryers in Nueva Ecija, considered the top rice-producing province in the Philippines.

At least 10 flatbed dryers were also installed as of last month in Iloilo; six each in Bulacan, Bohol and Leyte; five each in Zamboanga del Sur, South Cotabato and Agusan del Sur; four each in Davao del Sur, Kalinga, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija; three in Pangasinan; two in Camarines Sur; and one each in Tarlac, Occidental Mindoro and Isabela, according to BPRE director Ricardo Cachuela, who gave an update on the status of the project during the last DA management committee meeting.

The flatbed dryers are supposed to help farmers prop up production by reducing wastage. The antiquated postharvest facilities are being tagged as the single- biggest factor why farmers lose up to 35 percent of palay they produce.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, meanwhile, ordered the Bureau of Soils and Water Management to provide him an update on Strategic Agricultural and Fisheries Development Zones suitable for palay production.

For the dry season of 2009, Yap said the DA will target at least 1.8 million hectares of land for planting with hybrid and certified rice seeds.

To help stabilize rice prices, President Arroyo already directed the DA and the National Food Authority (NFA) to clamp down hard on hoarders and profiteers, and to take legal steps against them along with NFA people responsible for the diversion of government-subsidized rice stocks to private traders.

She had also ordered the NFA to revoke the passports of some 10,000 licensed grains dealers accredited by the food agency and to reaccredit only those engaged in legitimate trading practices, and the DA to stake out NFA and private warehouses to prevent diversion of government-subsidized stocks.

DAVAO CITY—The country loses some P50 billion yearly in postharvest wastage of crops, fruits and vegetables, with palay turning in more losses enough to turn around the huge import requirement for rice, a Department of Agriculture research bureau said.

FURNITURE exporters in Cebu project the demand for their products in the United States will pick up again once the election period is over in November this year.

SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. called on Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to “rein in” their subordinates who are suspected to be in collusion with big mining interests, making a mockery of mining laws, especially in Santa Cruz town in Zambales.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has procured and installed 500 out of the 1,000 flatbed dryers it was planning to put up in 37 rice-producing provinces across the country this year.

EXECUTIVES in development markets will increasingly look to countries belonging to East and South Asia for new talent, as the businesses are finding it increasingly tough to recruit and retain skilled employees in their own home countries, according to a survey published recently by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).