Design and construction of a small scale engine powered millet harvester.

Abstract

Finger millet (Eleusine coracona) is a cereal crop plant that belongs to the grass family which is grown in many countries of Africa and Asia. The millet is rich in polyphenols and particularly in calcium (Kidoido et al., 2002). The crop is also processed into value added products like cookies or beer by the farmers themselves, or by processors at the local or national levels (Oduori 2005). Production of finger millet in Uganda is carried out on a small scale with farmers mainly growing traditional varieties (Mgonja, et al (2007)) and for subsistence purposes though it is second to maize as a major cereal crop and one of those whose demand is outstripping its supply hence calling for more production. Due to this fact, there is increase in labour demand especially during harvesting and on addition to that; the largest contribution comes from women (about 75% of the labour force according to FAO, 2000). The crop is harvested by hand, using locally fabricated blunt edged metal strips which results into drudgery, more time being spent in carrying out the operation and the operation coinciding with rains which leads to deterioration of the quality of the grains. This project undertook the development of a small scale engine powered millet harvester with the aim of reducing on the drudgery and increasing timeliness of the harvesting operations. The main objective of the project was to design and construct a small scale engine powered millet harvester that meets the farmers’ harvesting requirements. To achieve the above objective, basic engineering principles and the physical properties of millet were considered in the design of the various components of the harvester. Appropriate engineering drawings were produced using solid edge and AutoCAD and then the designed harvester was constructed at the Busitema University Work shop using the locally available materials (mainly mild steel) and common production technologies, including cutting, bending, welding, etc. The field performance of the constructed harvester was determined by the field capacity, field efficiency and cutting efficiency. It was found out that the harvester has efficiency and actual capacity of up to 50.6% and 0.041ha/hr respectively. Thus the use of the harvester demonstrated to have a very big role in reducing drudgery and making farming attractive; thereby improving crop production and mitigating the labor shortages experienced during harvesting which finally increases the annual saving of the small scale millet farmers in Uganda.