Fomel Industry and National Industrialization Centre (FINIC) has developed a technology to pick groundnut with support from the European Union, and Action Against Hunger. Action Against Hunger, a Non Governmental Organization operating in Sierra Leone, is one of those organizations that received grants from the European Union under the government flagship program Boosting Agriculture and Food Security (BAFS). The purpose of the grant is to promote the production and processing of groundnuts in Moyamba District. FINIC, being an Enterprise that generates post-harvest processing technologies, had contractual agreement with Action Against Hunger to innovate into technologies in the value chain of groundnut production and processing. Among those was the technology that picks groundnuts from their stalk in a way that is many times faster than the traditional method.
Managing Director Melvin Kamara explained that after harvesting groundnuts, the traditional practice is to pluck (pick) them from their stalk which is a manual and direct hand application. The process he said can be painstakingly slow as hours of valuable time that should have been used in maximizing production and processing are used. In most of the cases, child labour is employed in carrying out such a drudgery ridden task.
“The mechanization thirsty team at FINIC, reversed engineered a bicycle to serve the purpose. Test runs were conducted on its effectiveness and the result was exemplary. The machine was able to do many times more than the traditional method of picking with direct fingers application” said Kamara. Engineer Marian Kamara, a graduate in Agricultural Engineering at the Njala University, led the research and was guided by the able FINIC Managers. “The exemplary performance of the machine has fired her enthusiasm to further her research into adding features to the same machine that can peel/decorticate groundnut.”
The FINIC team he said believes in helping youths to see agriculture and post harvest processing as attractive business ventures by developing technologies that use much of soft power in the enhancement of production in agriculture and related activities. “We at FINIC therefore believe in honing the minds of youths to be productive as it is the only path to our national development. No amount of foreign aid can suffice to strengthen our brain unless its application in a practical way” he said. “We should not forget that the world pays one for what one can do with that which one knows. What is in the head without being applied, is as good as a dead one.”
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque