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Soybean Innovation LabMulti-crop thresher

Kerry Clark

clarkk@Missouri.edu

soybeaninnovationlab.illinois.edu

The Journey to the present:

• Wanted to provide designs for threshers that were small enough to be affordable for smallholder farmers

The Journey to the present:• Were asked by a Ghana

NGO to make a bike-powered version

• Field testing of threshers:• Tested in three rural communities in

Ghana • All end-users tried to thresh more than

the capacity of the small threshers• Price of small threshers was still too high

for most smallholder farmers• Maintenance and repair were potential

problems for people unused to any mechanization• Nobody would pay for a thresher that did

not also shell maize

The Journey to the present:

1. Focus on threshers with high enough capacity to anchor a service provider business. Thresher needs to be safe for users

2. Design a thresher that could be used for multiple crops, including maize, rice, soy.

3. Field test with farmers4. Train fabricators to manufacture

threshers locally5. Build a training program for end-users

for maintenance and repair

Solution

1. Focus on threshers with high enough

capacity to anchor a service provider

business

• Two Ghanaian fabricators with extensive experience provided designs and working models.

• Variable size motor capacity (8 hp) or PTO drive

• Capacity is constrained only by speed of loading

• Can be pulled by tractor, donkey, motorcycle

•Chaff clean-out is through suction directly from the threshing chamber and not by blowing out over seed.

•This leads to zero grain loss from the threshing chamber

•When field tested against wind clean-out, much more efficient with much lower grain loss

This thresher has high

grain loss because the

chaff is blown out using a

fan that blows across the

exiting grain

This thresher is extremely

dusty for the operator

The operator’s

hands get really

close to the

threshing drum

Many operators try to stuff

plants in with a stick. Sticks

or hands can get sucked

into threshing drum

• This is from a different thresher with the fan blowing over the beans to remove chaff.

• The pan on the top is loss and the pan on the bottom is what the thresher caught

• It is a 10% loss by weight

• If you lose 44 seeds in a meter square of harvested area, that is a loss of 67 kg/ha of yield

Threshing

chamber

Exhaust Fan

Chaff exits away

from the

operator

The husk does not

need to be removed

from maize before

shelling

2. Design a thresher that can be used for multiple crops, including maize, rice, soy.

The threshing chamber top

can be easily unbolted and

accessed

Concaves unbolt and

are interchangeable.

MUST make sure

operator has proper

wrenches

Open top and

change out

concaves to

change crops

3. Field test with farmers• Tested in 2017 in rural communities

in Ghana• Testing will continue in 2018• Design is currently being used by

farmers in Upper West region of Ghana

• Workshop for modifications and final plans taking place August 6-11, 2018

• Designs will be publically available after workshop

4.Train fabricators to manufacture threshers locally• Local fabrication lowers costs, creates

jobs• Local fabricators are more in touch

with their customer’s needs and can adapt

• Local fabricators can also repair and advise, extending life of machine

• U.S. mechanization started with local fabrication and farmer input

• Not all fabricators can read CAD plans without experience/training

• Without training, fabricators will reverse engineer, leading to inferior products that may lack important design elements

• Training helps improve product quality and the chance that the user will be able to successfully maintain and operate the machine

• Training creates a network of artisans that support the industry and end-users

Why train?

First training of 12 fabricators occurred in Ghana in 2016.

Funded by ADVANCE (ACDI-VOCA) and ATT (IFDC)

SIL Training

SIL Training• 6-8 day training including math skills,

design reading, business development, quality control, parts sourcing, production efficiency, customer support

• Training includes production of a thresher

• SIL can train local fabricators or conduct train-the trainers

SIL and CRS are following up

with three year research

program funded by ADM

Institute for Post-Harvest Loss

on:• Effect on thresher use of post-harvest loss

reduction• Barriers to local thresher fabrication and

policies and practices that need to be initiated to overcome issues limiting success of in-country production.

• Issues surrounding different ownership scenarios.

• Socio-economic and human health costs and benefits

• Training and skill requirements needed for men and women in thresher operation and maintenance.

5. Build a training program for end-users for maintenance and repair

• We found that the biggest problem with threshers that go to the field is inadequate training of the end-users

• People do not know how to fix simple problems and do not know they need to grease bearings

• End-users also need to have the necessary tools along with the thresher

Minimum tools

needed

• Jack

• Wrenches

• Motor oil

• Grease gun

• Grease

Mechanization

is new and

the most

basic skills

need to be

taught

The more

people who

understand

the

equipment,

the longer it

will last

Cost of multi-thresher in

Ghana

•Materials $1181

•Diesel engine 8 hp $525

•Machining $150

• Labor $150

•Transport $150

•TOTAL $2156

What can the SIL Mechanization

Program do for you?• Provide thresher designs

• Provide end-user training module

• Can help you host training

programs for in-country fabricators

• Can provide a packaged program

for fabricator and end-user training.

Cost depends on location and

number of fabricators to train

Questions?

Kerry Clark

clarkk@Missouri.edu

soybeaninnovationlab.illinois.edu