Day: February 11, 2022

Government

Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) is designing a solar-based smart dryer for producing herbal medicine raw ingredients, or simplicia. “Drying medicinal herbs is the main process for producing simplicia, which aims to reduce the herbs’ moisture content and extend the product’s shelf life,” an agroindustrial technology official at BRIN, Arief Ariyanto, said in a statement issued here on Friday. Excessive drying can cause the active substances in simplicia to decrease or disappear, he noted. Meanwhile, incomplete drying increases simplicia’s moisture content beyond 10 percent, which can trigger the growth of microbes and fungi that can damage the product, he explained. In many regions of Indonesia, the drying of medicinal herbs is done directly in sunlight in open fields, he noted. Thus, the ingredients are prone to bacterial contamination and exposure to ultraviolet rays, he said. “In addition, the heat may become excessive and reduce the amount of the product’s active substances,” Ariyanto informed. Considering that the drying process is important for herbal medicine manufacturing, further research is still required for more precise application of heat, he said. The smart drying technology has been developed since 2012 by the Health Ministry, he added. At the time, the ministry was successful in making the first prototype of the dryer, he continued. In 2021, the second prototype of the dryer was developed with prominent features, which could maintain the stability of temperature and humidity according to the user’s setting, he informed. In addition, the prototype has an additional gas-fired heater, he added. Currently, the technology has been applied at four Post-Harvest Processing Centers for Medicinal Plants (P4TOs) in Pekalongan city and Tegal city (Central Java province), Malang city (East Java province), and Tabanan district (Bali province), he said. In the future, the technology will be updated with the addition of device library settings and the optimization of the blower so that the heat can be more evenly distributed, he added. Source: Antara News

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President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has reiterated Indonesia’s commitment to conserving up to 32.5 million hectares of the national marine area by 2030. “Our commitment is to achieve 32.5 million hectares