A locally-invented boiler system which could drive a steam-powered fish dryer and a retort machine for sardines-making will soon change the lives of poor fishing families in remote fishing grounds of Mindanao.
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), even with its minuscule funding, is launching its Mindanao Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry Development Program with the installation of the Spanish Sardines-making equipment in at least 10 remote fishing communities with very high poverty incidence.
Designed and built by a multi-awarded Mindanao inventor, Engr. Rudy Cane, younger brother of Agusan del Sur Gov. Santiago Cane, the boiler-dryer-retort machine set-up is ideal for off-grid areas, including island fishing communities with no access to the power lines.
The boiler is powered by burning rice hull which boils water to produce steam which in turn provides heat to the fish dryer and the retort machine.
The retort machine is an important equipment in sardines-making because it is used to soften the fish inside the bottles allowing consumers to eat even the fishbones.
The retort process also extends the shelf life of the bottled sardines as the extreme heat kills the microbes and pathogens which cause early spoilage.
Larger retort equipment could cost up to P5-million compared to the local invention of Engr. Cane which could be made at a cost of only P70,000.
Including the mini-boiler and the steam-powered fish dryer, the whole set-up could cost only P300,000 and the operation is so simple that even village fishermen or their wives could operate the system.
MinDA, with its limited funds, will finance the establishment of 10 units in selected fishing communities where there is a huge catch of the “Tamban,” especially in the Zamboanga Peninsula and the coastal areas around the Moro Gulf, including the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawitawi.
The equipment are set to be established in the field in time for the lifting of the 3-month Closed Season for Sardines Fishing on March 1, 2021.
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