- DA expanding dying facilities which can add 1 million MT of palay drying capacity per cropping season.
- Farmers could earn around PHP25,200 (USD410) more per year with facility access.
- First 230 dryers procured; two already running and most coming by year-end.
The nationwide rollout is expected to add around 1 million metric tons of palay drying capacity every cropping season, helping to boost farmers’ incomes and strengthen domestic rice supply.
The DA said the initiative could put “billions of pesos in additional income into farmers’ hands.”
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. described the initiative as one of the administration’s biggest investments in post-harvest infrastructure.
The DA plans to complete 380 mechanical drying systems in time for the 2027 wet season — the first nationwide deployment of drying facilities at this scale.
According to Assistant Director Joel Dator of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), procurement for the first 230 dryers has already been completed, with the deployment timeline now largely depending on the construction of sheds to house the equipment.
Two units are already operating in Nueva Ecija, and Dator said the bulk of the systems are expected to be commissioned before year-end, allowing the government to move into the program’s second phase.
Maximising value
The new facilities are designed to protect freshly harvested grain from rain, excessive moisture and spoilage — factors that can significantly reduce grain quality and market value at a time when farmers are already contending with thin margins.
The DA frames the project as a strategic investment in an area that has historically received less attention than efforts to boost farm productivity, noting that better handling of what’s already grown can matter as much as growing more.
DA Undersecretary Christopher Morales said the goal is to maximise the value of every harvest.
Rather than focusing solely on expanding production, the country can raise its effective rice output by cutting post-harvest losses, improving milling recovery rates, and letting farmers sell properly dried palay that fetches higher prices in the market.
The DA is betting that fixing inefficiencies in how grain is handled after harvest can deliver gains that are just as significant as those from planting more hectares or raising per-hectare yields, without the added cost and land pressure that expanding cultivation would require.
Morales said farmers with access to the drying facilities stand to gain an additional PHP12,600 (USD205) per hectare per cropping season — roughly PHP25,200 (USD410) in additional annual income based on an average yield of 4.2 MT per hectare, depending on production levels and actual facility use.
For many smallholder farmers, that kind of increase could meaningfully offset the cost of inputs like seed, fertiliser and fuel, particularly in seasons when yields are otherwise squeezed by poor weather.
Improving resilience
This matters more as farmers face increasingly unpredictable weather that can damage grain quality during harvest, from unseasonal rain that delays drying to humidity that encourages mould and spoilage in stored palay.
Officials believe the additional drying capacity will help improve the resilience of the rice sector while bringing the Philippines a step closer to its rice sufficiency and food security goals.
