Rice Thresher
Developed in Ghana, this thresher is made with locally available materials by regional craftsmen in Suame Magazine. Its purpose is to assist farmers to produce a higher quality rice at an affordable price, to increase food security in Ghana (currently, over 80% of Ghana's rice is imported).
This photo was taken while the device was on display at Maker Faire Africa. The link below features one of team members, Hazwan, talking about some of the features of the rice thresher.
A freewheel from a bicycle to allow the continous rotation of the axle and threshing drum, after power has been applied. An issue that has been raised is the need to stop the rotation in case of an emergency.
A foot pedal to power the rotation of the device. With this, the machince was able to achieve an optimal threshing speed of 300rpm.
Demonstrating an earlier prototype thresher in a rural village outside of Kumasi, Ghana. Children had an instant attraction to the device, this was good from an aesthetic standpoint, but meant we had to reconsider some safetey elements of the device in future iterations.
The rice thresher design team, at our final presentation at Kwame Nkrumah University in Kumasi, Ghana.
Research
Visiting local markets in Ghana, we found many stones in the rice.
We visited this women's group in Northern Ghana that parboiled rice to improve its quality. It was a quality product, but parboiled rice is an acquired taste to some and many people prefer the imported Jasmine Rice.
Uncle Sam is a popular imported brand name perfumed rice in Ghana. Interestingly enough, it comes from Thailand and not the United States.
anyone can cook