SRE RESUMES WORK ON BIOMASS MULTI-CROP DRYER

SRE's biomass multi-crop dryer will see more action before the end of the year. The dryer, fuelled by waste rice hulls (as well as by other biomass fuels including corn cobs, wood chips, and nutshells), will be used to dry fruits including papayas, pineapples, and mangoes.

The new initiative is a collaboration between SRE, Aklan State University, and the Quimpo Family of Aklan and is designed to meet the need for processing Aklan's abundant supply of fruits, most of which end up as waste due to lack of post-harvest facilities. Indeed, even the excess mangoes of nearby province Guimaras still have to be shipped to Cebu Province where they are then dried and shipped back to Guimaras.

Lyn Fernandez-Wilson of the Quimpo clan is also targetting the huge tourist market in nearby Boracay where, as she puts it, "virtually all of the dried mangoes on sale bear the 'Made in Cebu' label," adding, "We have the fruits, and now we have the technology. It's time to have packaged dried fruit under a 'Made in Aklan' label!"