The Department of Agriculture (DA) is embarking on what it describes as the country’s largest expansion of drying facilities, convinced that better grain handling—not just bigger harvests—can move the Philippines closer to rice sufficiency while putting billions of pesos in additional income into farmers’ hands.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said the DA is set to complete 380 mechanical drying systems in time for the 2027 wet season, marking the first nationwide rollout of its scale.
Of the total, he said, 230 units are already being completed and are expected to be operational by the end of the year, while another 150 are scheduled for implementation next year, allowing the entire network to be in place by September 2027.
“For the first time in the country’s history, we’ll be completing 380 drying systems for the 2027 wet season,” said Tiu Laurel during an internal planning meeting, describing the initiative as one of the administration’s biggest investments in post-harvest infrastructure.
Assistant Director Joel Dator of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) said procurement for the initial 230 dryers has already been completed, with installation now hinging largely on the completion of the sheds that will house the equipment.
While two units are already operating in Nueva Ecija, Dator said that the bulk of the systems are expected to be commissioned before yearend, paving the way for the second phase of the rollout.
The expanded network is expected to add about 1 million metric tons of palay drying capacity every cropping season, helping farmers protect freshly harvested grain from rain, moisture and spoilage—long-standing causes of post-harvest losses and poor grain quality.
Undersecretary Christopher Morales said the project’s greatest benefit is maximizing the value of every harvest. Instead of relying solely on expanding production, he said the country can increase its effective rice output by reducing post-harvest losses, improving milling recovery, and enabling farmers to sell properly dried palay, which commands a higher market price.
Morales said the additional drying capacity could generate an estimated PHP3 billion in additional net income per cropping season, or about PHP6 billion annually, based on the volume of palay that can be mechanically dried and an average PHP3 per kilogram price premium (net of cost of drying) for properly dried palay over wet palay.
He added that farmers who are able to utilize the drying facilities stand to earn higher net income per harvest, with estimated additional gains of about PHP12,600 per hectare per cropping season, or roughly PHP25,200 per year, based on an average yield of 4.2 metric tons per hectare, depending on production levels and actual utilization of the facilities.
Beyond raising farm incomes, the project addresses one of the weakest links in the rice value chain. By reducing avoidable losses after harvest and delivering better-quality grain to millers, the expanded drying network could significantly increase domestic rice supply without planting a single additional hectare, bringing the country a step closer to its rice sufficiency and food security goals amid increasingly unpredictable weather.
