Intermediate Agricultural Processing Technologies for Cereal Crops in South Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT A comparative evaluation of the performance of a tractorpowered maize sheller and shelling with tractor wheels, electrically and diesel-operated sorghum milling machines with traditional maize shelling and sorghum milling techniques was conducted at Vergelegen rural community in the Northern Province of South Africa. Maize shellers and the traditional shelling techniques were evaluated in terms of shelling efficiency, grain output and grain damage, while the sorghum milling machines and the traditional techniques were evaluated in terms of flour output, losses and quality of output. The performance of these intermediate processing technologies for shelling and milling operations were compared with traditional processing techniques. Shelling of maize with tractor wheels incurred the highest percentage of grain damage. The difference in shelling with intermediate technologies and traditional techniques has significant effects on grain damage, grain output and shelling efficiency. A higher flour output from sorghum was obtained with new milling technologies than with traditional milling technique. The different milling methods have significant effects on the degree of fineness of flour for particle size greater than 1000 micrometer and less than 150 micrometer.