DryStore Technology

Summary

The DryStore technology is a highly efficient, multi-use clay desiccant. In tropical climates, high humidity causes rapid seed deterioration, resulting in poor stand establishment, lower productivity, reduced market value and a disincentive to invest in improved seeds. When used with airtight containers, the drying beads provide a widely adaptable method for drying high-value horticultural seeds and maintaining seed quality during storage.

Challenge/Problem

High humidity present especially in tropical climates causes rapid seed and produce deterioration, resulting in poor stand establishment, lower productivity, reduced market value and a disincentive to invest in improved seeds. Under humid conditions, drying under the sun and other traditional methods cannot reduce seed moisture sufficiently to maintain seed quality. For every 1 percent increase in seed moisture content, seed longevity is reduced by approximately half. Farmers or seed suppliers storing seed in humid climates in a non-controlled environment face the possibility of low germination rates during the growing season, impacting income, access to nutrition, and wasted resources.

Additionally, dried fruits and vegetables in humid climates that are stored in environments with high relative humidity are susceptible to fungal growth. Desiccants can assist in maintaining dry environments in a container storing dried commodities.

Solution

Drying beads are a desiccant product developed by Rhino Research using zeolite. When used with airtight containers, the drying beads provide a widely adaptable method for drying high-value horticultural seeds and maintaining seed quality during storage. The beads can be reused indefinitely by heating between uses. Drying beads enable seed producers to dry seeds to very low moisture content without the use of heat, thus preserving seed quality. Keeping seeds dry during storage can increase seed longevity, germination rates and plant vigor — ultimately increasing yield capacity for farmers. Drying beads can be integrated into local seed systems to improve markets for local and improved cultivars. With increased confidence in seed quality, farmers have greater incentive to invest in seed and can begin their seasons without the penalty of poor seed. Drying beads cost $8-15/kilogram and require only an airtight container to keep seed dry. The beads can be recharged in an oven to be used repeatedly.

Drying Beads can be recharged in an oven and reused. The DryStore technology varies in cost, but essentially it converts an existing airtight storage unit into a storage unit with a low-cost hygrometer (USD$5-10) that indicates the ERH of the seed in the container with the Drying Beads. These are costs at retail.

The use of the DryStore has primarily been in the seed sector, given the high value-to-weight ratio of horticultural seeds and the cost of loss due to moisture and rot. However, it could also be used to dry fruits, vegetables or fish and could improve nutrition and reduce post-harvest losses in addition to encouraging farmers to grow higher value crops.

Results

- By connecting with seed companies that can immediately recognize and recoup benefits of improved seed quality, the team has successfully deployed drying beads into the marketplace, with seed farmers using them and vegetable farmers accessing higher quality vegetable seed.

- The team provided week-long trainings to 14 seed leaders repeating 3-7 times over several months, with a possibility of certification. Those leaders have already trained more than 70 staff members, who trained more than 500 seed production farmers.

- Rhino Research has had commercial success with the Drying Beads and DryStore in Bangladesh with seed distributor Lal Teer seeds in particular. They have sold the Drying Beads for other uses (any item that could be damaged by humidity could benefit from desiccants) but in terms of interaction with the Hort Lab, Bangladesh seed companies. Lal Teer has seen the benefit, and sees the pluses being higher quality seed that they can sell.

- Success with Lal Teer has prompted interest from the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture to purchase and distribute Drying Beads and DryStore technology to research institutes in Bangladesh.

Lessons Learned/Potential for replication

The Drying Beads and DryStore was initially scaled to farmers directly in Nepal, Thailand, India and Bangladesh. However, at $8/kg and the need for an oven to recharge the desiccants, uptake was not occurring. A pivot in this pilot to Lal Teer and other Bangladesh seed companies proved successful and from that pilot, Lal Teer has expanded use of the DryStore/Drying Bead technology and the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and interest from the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture for other scaling opportunities.

Next Steps

For commercial users, DryStore is superior and more cost-effective than forced-air industrial drying in terms of capital investment and operating costs. It is also more robust as it doesn’t require a regular electricity supply.  However, replacing existing technology with the Dry Chain will take significant efforts in marketing and demonstrating to commercial actors, and even more so if the target market extends to growers and companies producing dried food products like fruits, meats, fish, and spices. The DryStore team is exploring additional public-private partnerships to refine their model and scale the technology.