Design and Fabrication of a Low-Cost Pedal-Operated Groundnut Shelling Machine for Rural Communities in Zamfara State

This project focuses on the design and fabrication of a low-cost, pedal-operated groundnut shelling machine suited to the operational realities of smallholder farmers in rural communities of Zamfara State, North West Nigeria. Groundnut shelling remains predominantly manual in many North West farming communities, resulting in low throughput, high physical fatigue, and seasonal processing bottlenecks that constrain farmers' ability to respond to market demand. This research follows an engineering design process encompassing conceptualisation, functional specification, detail design, material selection, fabrication, and performance testing. The machine incorporates a rotating cylindrical shelling drum driven by a foot pedal crank mechanism, enabling operation without electrical power infrastructure. Design calculations for shaft diameter, belt drive specifications, and drum clearance are presented, with materials selected to balance durability and local availability. Performance testing at three communities in Zamfara demonstrated a shelling capacity of approximately forty-eight kilograms per hour, a shelling efficiency of ninety-one percent, and a grain damage rate of three-point-two percent, all superior to average manual shelling benchmarks. The total fabrication cost is estimated at a level accessible to farmer cooperatives. This project contributes to the literature on appropriate technology design for agroindustrial processing in rural North West Nigeria. Keywords: groundnut shelling machine, appropriate technology, pedal-operated, Zamfara State, agroindustrial design