Artisans trained in manufacture of cassava harvesters
The Crop Research Institute (CRI) of the Centre for Scientific Research Institute (CSRI) in Kumasi has initiated a programme to train more artisans on how to manufacture the recently invented manual cassava harvester in large qualities to ease the stress on farmers.
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The training exercise has since begun across the country for cassava farmers to duplicate the locally manufactured equipment.
The exercise is being carried out by the inventor of the equipment, Shadrack Kwadwo Amponsah, with support from the Brazilian partners, the Brazilian Agric Research Corporation.
Already more than 100 artisans in Ejura and Mampong have perfected the manufacturing of the equipment while about 40 others from the Bosomtwe District and Donaso in the Ejisu-Juabeng municipality, both in the Ashanti Region, have also benefited from the training.
Mr Amponsah told the Daily Graphic that the team from the CRI-CSRI was expected to move to the Western and the Volta regions to start the exercise in those areas.
Equipment
The equipment was perfected after a four-year research work by an employee of CRI, Shadrack Kwadwo Amponsah, as part of his Master’s degree programme at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
A first attempt at producing the equipment by the International Institute of Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria, was botched following which the Ghanaian scientist spent four years to redesign and perfect it.
Functions
The tool basically operates on two principles—‘grip and lift’ and ‘dig and lift’. It consists of a frame to which an immovable griping jaw is attached with a chisel tip which serves as the base for lifting cassava from the soil.
