Agribusiness Support Fund (ASF) has recently extended its financial support for the establishment of a solar dryer for dates in district Khairpur, Sindh, which has produced impressive results, as the produce not only remains protected from rain, dust and insects but the drying period was also reduced by half compared to 5-6 days process using traditional methods.
According to a spokesman of the ASF, the dryer has been designed by a qualified engineer and ASF team member on experimental basis for the first time in Pakistan for drying of dates targeting the current season. ASF extended a matching grant funding of Rs 0.3 million to Maulana Sadaruddin Palphoto, President of Sindh Dates Growers Association for construction of solar dryer on his farm in Khairpur.
The experiment remained successful as in the first phase 1.5 tons of dates was dried within a record time period of 3 days, which produced high quality dates. The dryer has a capacity to process 15 tons of dates in a month, which can further be enhanced.
The uniqueness of this solar dryer is that it is based on very simple technology, which has zero operational cost since it totally works on sunlight and neither requires expensive solar panels nor electricity. It only requires one-time infrastructure investment, which may last up to 20 years. The same dryer technology can be used for drying of other agricultural produce as well.
The use of ASF designed and sponsored solar dryer showed impressive results, as the produce not only remains protected from rain, dust and insects but the drying period was also reduced by half compared to 5-6 days process using traditional methods.
All these factors also improved the quality of produce, which fetched a premium price of Rs 15-20 per kg to the grower. On a macro level, this simple technology has the potential to have a significant positive impact on poverty alleviation in the region. Improved quality would further pave way for export of dates thereby increasing revenues in foreign exchange for the country, the spokesman added.
Pakistan produces 0.5-0.6 million tones of dates each year and is rated as the fifth largest producer in the world. Unfortunately nearly 70 percent of the produce is traditionally processed in to low priced 'chuharas' for avoiding expected losses due to rain.