Design and construction of a cocoa pod husk slicing machine for animal feeds.

Abstract

Cocoa-pod husk is a, by-product of the cocoa processing industry and despite the involvement of many farmers in the cocoa growing areas in Uganda; many have not utilized fully its by product into useful products such as ingredient for animal feeds and others. Slicing using knives is time consuming, labor intensive and gives Less output. There is a problem of feed scarcity due to competition of the available animal feeds between animals. and because of seasonal changes especially during the dry season, there is always less feeds. The size of the- cocoa pod husk is big thus cannot be taken in by animals with ease. This calls for a way of minimizing all these constraining issues to the full utilization of cocoa pod husks. The purpose of this study is to design and construct a cocoa pod- husk slicing machine local farmers, -which increased the output -of animal 'feeds compared to the quantity -obtained while using knives. This will be by designing and constructing the various components and testing the performance of the slicing machine. The proposed machine was constructed mainly by carpentry and welding, the methods used include designing different components of the. machine, which include the handle, slicing platform, cutting blades, spout, blade attachments and aflame-The results include comparison between slicing using a knife and a constructed machine. The output using a machine gradually increased with reduced waste. In conclusion, the project was found to be viable by carrying out an economic analysis and it was efficient A continuous mechanism for slicing should be provided to increase output a -mechanism that conveys the husks to the slicing unit.