IRRI Friday, December 15, 2017

Figure: IRRI rice processing training for rice industry stakeholders in Thailand

IRRI continued its 2-day post production rice processing training for rice industry stakeholders in Thailand. One was held in November 8 and 9 at Nakhon Ratchasima, and the other in December 7 and 8 at Chai Nat province. 21 participants received training in rice milling and best storage management practices, and learned about techniques to improve rice quality. The training is part of the capacity building activities for a Kellogg’s-funded project that supports research towards advancing sustainable rice post harvest drying and milling practices.

The training comprised of lectures and hands-on exercises on properly assessing the quality of milled rice using the IRRI grain quality kit. Part of the learning experience is evaluating the quality of cooked polished rice and brown rice through a taste test. Participants were also taught to analyze the differences in physical qualities of paddy stored in hermetic IRRI Super Bag vs. ordinary bag storage. The activities were facilitated by IRRI Engineers Joseph Sandro and Caling Balingbing.

Natthaphong Tirasetphakdee, manager of Korat Yongsanguan Rice Mill, highly appreciated the training and said “I am happy to learn how I can optimize use of my rice mill and assess the quality of rice. I am very interested to explore further training at IRRI HQ especially in the post production course next year.”

By the end of the program, Martin Gummert, IRRI’s Senior Scientist, expressed his appreciation to the attendees. “I appreciate the active participation of trainees and their commitment to understanding rice quality to meet the requirements of the market, especially of Kellogg’s”. He added, “If you need further assistance, I highly encourage you to keep in touch with IRRI, particularly the Postharvest Group. We can assist you in setting up the hermetic storage system and provide you with more information on rice post harvest through the Rice Knowledge Bank”.
 
Mr Janjit Jongnoi, Production Manager of CP Rice Mill thanked IRRI and Kellogg’s for conducting the training, which he said is “very useful for us to significantly improve our operation and minimize losses in the post harvest operation of rice,”

For more information on post harvest management, contact Carlito Balingbing at postharvest@irri.org.