Punjab/National News- First mechanical maize dryer of country to soon become operational in Nawanshahr

Nawanshahr, October 6, 2013: In a big leap forward towards promoting crop diversification in the state by facilitating the Maize cultivators to avail better value of their harvest the state government was constructing a state-of-art Maize dryer plant at Nawanshahr grain market, which would be the first mechanical Maize dryer in the country.
Divulging the details here today, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anindita Mitra said that state government had decided to install two maize dryer plants in the state, one at Nawanshahr (SBS Nagar) and another at Saila Khurd (Hoshiarpiur), the districts where maize cultivation was carried on in a big way. She further said that these plants would reduce moisture content in the crops so that the farmers could get the remunerative value of their produce. The installation work of machinery at the plant shed in Nawanshahr Grain Market was going on in full swing adding that these plants with imported machinery from Taiwan, would be the first in the country and state.
The DC further said a total of Rs 9 crore has been spent to set in operation Nawanshahr maize dryer plant which include 3.13 crore of civil, electric and mechanical costs other than Rs 5.30 crore of imported machinery. This plant would dry as many as 66 quintals of maize per batch and would reduce moisture content upto three percent in a period of one hour according to the quantity of moisture in maize produce, she went on add. Apart from that, the plant would also have the salient feature of husk fired technology, which enables it to run on paddy husk thereby saving a large amount of power.
Deputy Commissioner further said that during Kharif season, maize crop was sown in 14000 hectares in SBS Nagar district out of which 59,000 metric tonnes of total produce was expected. The operationalisation of maize drier plant at Nawanshahr Mandi would definitely help in increasing area under maize cultivation, she added.
It must be recalled that Maize was amongst the crops having high moisture content value far above the specifications laid down by the Government of India. Normally, maize crop have 24 percent or more moisture content which could now be reduced to 17 percent after drying it with the help of Maize drier plant. Traditionally, it takes a week to dry maize produce openly in grain markets in the sun light which resulted in the delay in sale of this crop.