Fabrication and Testing of a Multi-Crop Thresher for Small-Scale Farmers in Borno State

This study involves the fabrication and performance testing of a multi-crop thresher adaptable for threshing sorghum, millet, and cowpea for small-scale farmers in Borno State, North East Nigeria. Small-scale farmers in Borno State cultivate multiple grain crops that each require threshing after harvest, and the cost of maintaining separate threshing equipment for each crop is prohibitive. A multi-crop thresher that can be adjusted for different crop types with minimal modifications offers significant economic advantage for smallholder farming households. This study designs a multi-crop thresher with interchangeable cylinder and concave configurations, adjustable cylinder speed, and feed rate control. The machine is powered by a 3-kilowatt electric motor with petrol engine option. Performance tests are conducted for sorghum, pearl millet, and cowpea using crops harvested from farms in Jere, Konduga, and Biu. Standard ASABE performance metrics are measured for each crop at optimal concave clearance and cylinder speed settings. Findings reveal that optimal settings differ substantially across crops, with sorghum performing best at 450 rpm cylinder speed and 20 millimetre clearance, millet at 350 rpm and 15 millimetres, and cowpea at 250 rpm and 25 millimetres. All three crops achieve threshing efficiencies above 92 percent at optimised settings with grain damage below 5 percent. The study concludes that the multi-crop thresher successfully serves the diversified crop portfolio of Borno State smallholder farmers. It recommends fabrication training for local workshops.

Keywords: multi-crop thresher, sorghum, millet, cowpea, Borno State.