The collaboration between Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) through the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (FMAE) and the School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (STEI) with PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia (CPI) continues in developing the Mobile Corn Dryer (MCD). This innovation comes as a solution to the concerns of corn farmers in Indonesia about fluctuations in corn quality that affect the selling price of corn and cost them dearly.

Dr. Ir. Toto Hardianto, a lecturer in energy conversion from the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (FMAE), led the ITB team in this MCD project. Together with Dr. Ir. Nathanael Panagung Tandian, M.Sc. (FMAE lecturer) and Dr. Pranoto Hidaya Rusmin, S.T, M.T. (STEI lecturer), as well as support from lecturers and young researchers from FMAE and STEI, they successfully developed the Mobile Corn Dryer in several versions, including Lite, Medium, and Jumbo. Each version is intended to meet the needs of drying corn with different capacities.

The development of the MCD has gone through several stages of trials. In April 2023, an endurance test was conducted in Semarang and the results showed that the MCD is able to operate well for 10 hours per day non-stop.

The next stage of testing was a field test on July 21-22, 2023 in Mojokerto, East Java, covering the Medium version of MCD and the Lite version. The event was attended by stakeholders from PT CPI, PT BISI Internasional Tbk as partners, ITB research team who are part of the MCD program, and corn farmers as partners.

MCD is a technological innovation that plays an important role in corn post-harvest handling. With this tool, farmers can dry their crops more quickly, programmatically and easily. This will help reduce losses due to deterioration of maize quality in the market and increase the income of maize farmers in Indonesia.

Hopefully, the collaboration between ITB through FMAE and STEI with PT CPI in developing this MCD will continue and provide great benefits for corn farmers and contribute to improving food security in Indonesia. Hopefully, this innovation will be one of the steps forward in supporting the agricultural sector and the prosperity of farmers in this country.