By George Munene
A multifunctional crop thresher serves as an innovative solution sparing farmers long hours and energy spent shelling cereals and pulses such as maize, beans, green grams, wheat, sorghum, millet and chia. As a one-off cost, it is also a great investment to the expensive repeat hiring of casual labourers and ensurers grains are shelled and stored on time avoiding post-harvest losses which account for cereals, legumes and pulses losses of up to 20 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The basic, easy to use machine runs on a three or five horsepower electric motor (depending on the workload) or a 200 cc petroleum engine and is able to shell 150-100 kilograms worth of dried produce in under an hour.
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The petroleum driven engine consumes slightly less than ½ liter of petrol for an hour’s worth of work.
“The machine is intuitive, making its operation easy for any farmer and apart from regular greasing, requires little in the way of maintenance,” explains George Mwao of Benmwao Machinery and construction.
The multifunctional crop thresher imported in from China costs Sh70,000-50,000, with the electric motor driven thresher costing slightly more than the one running on petrol.
Benmwao Machinery Services: 0724724960