ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. This paper describes the use of weather data collected for Jinja and Kasese districts in Uganda for the development of strategies for planning and management of in-store grain drying operations. Grain drying practices in Uganda are still under-developed with most farmers practicing open-sun drying on the bare-ground and mats. In-store drying is a combination of both drying and storage operations. Weather data including temperature and relative humidity from the two districts were analyzed using computer simulations of in-store drying of corn.

The applicability of an in-store drying system in Uganda as an alternative for corn drying and storage was studied. With the 13.5 tonne capacity In-store Dryer (ISD) used in this study, the predicted drying rates were lower, and investment costs and operating costs lower, than other comparable grain dryers. In the simulation, the fan and burner were operated 24 hours continuously irrespective of weather. Under these conditions for the two districts Jinja and Kasese, the cost of drying a kilogram of corn was estimated at around $0.203/kg. The final product after drying had a dry matter loss (DML) of under 0.6% (Jinja 0.45% and Kasese 0.55%), indicating a high quality corn.

The profit margin, based on the current price of corn in Uganda of $0.0507/kg, was better for the Kasese district. It was observed that both drying costs and profit were greatly affected by price fluctuations of fuel and electricity and also the unpredictable prices for corn.