Duke Engineers Without Borders: RASD Summer 2007 ------Full Belly Project

Introduction:

The overall goal for our work with the Full Belly Project this summer is to introduce their Universal Nut Sheller technology to the Rural Agency for Sustainable Development (RASD) and distribute the technology in the immediate areas surrounding Nkokonjero in the Mukono district of . A production facility was set-up in Iganga, Uganda earlier this summer by the Full Belly Project and a number of students from the University of North Carolina and the Olin College of Technology. During our time working with RASD, we wish to make the RASD center a distribution center by creating a market for the machines.

Why we are doing what we are doing---Mission Rationale

The UNS has an enormous potential to alleviate some of the stress rural citizens in Uganda face by efficiently and quickly shelling several types of agriculture. For instance, citizens in eastern Ugandans can spend hours each day shelling , a staple food source in the area. Others spend time husking coffee or shelling shea nuts. The UNS can save rural citizens hours upon hours of manual labor that can be used for far better means. Our aim is to introduce this extremely effective machine into the hands as a many people as possible. Trying to go as an outside entity (a bunch of young American, white people, more specifically) it would be very hard to introduce the technology to people in the Nkokonjero area any without any outside experience in introducing agricultural technolgies nor extensive knowledge of the area. That is why our collaboration and connection with RASD is essential to this project’s success. RASD specializes in exactly what we are trying to do and they will prove to be invaluable. In fact, one of our main goals should be to work with the RASD members to the point where this technology distribution becomes THEIR project, so that once we leave they can continue to create a market for the technology. Finally, this technology implementation fits into our overall, long-term concept of what the RASD-Duke collaboration should be -- a mutual relationship where RASD and Duke work together to help the rural citizens of Uganda and Duke students experience hands-on sustainable development work.

Overall Priorities

1. Introduce the technology to RASD and show them the technology’s potential.

2. Work with RASD to explore potential markets for the machine.

3. Help the Full Belly Project test their machine against the alternative lever- powered sheller.

Methods:

Introducing the technology to RASD

At this point in time Igantius and the other RASD leaders have only heard about the technology via email and phone conversations. The first thing we must do in order to work with RASD to distribute the machine is obviously to get several of the machines in their hands. As mentioned in the introduction, a production facility exists in Iganga, which is owned and operated by Henry Masagazi. We are looking to supply the center with 2-3 of the UNS machines for demonstrations. One of the machines must be designated for Jatropha shelling for safety reasons (Jatropha is poisonous). The demonstration machines at the RASD center will serve several purposes other than demonstrating the technology’s potential to RASD. First, we can use the shellers to drum up interest and excitement in the community for the technology. I am not sure what the best way to do this would be, but most likely it would be inviting local groundnut and coffee farmers to test the machines. At a later date, if many people want to use the machines, RASD may be able to rent them out to people for a small fee. According to Roey Rosenblith of the Full Belly Project who has just arrived home from setting up the facility, the UNS machines are currently being sold for 120,000 UDX, approximately $72. However, Roey has mentioned on several occasions that Henry is a shrewd businessman (as are almost all Ugandans) and some price negotiating will be inevitable. Transportation costs are also worth considering. Jeff Rose, also of FBP, said that it may cost between 100,000 and 150,000 UDX to transport (by truck) the machines to the facility. Another cost will be buying a few bags of coffee and peanuts to test and demonstrate the machine. Jatropha may have to be collected from the local people as it is not a commercially grown, but rather a fence plant for crops; hopefully Ignatius will be able to help us to do this collection. After obtaining the UNS machines and peanuts, coffee and jatropha for demonstrating and testing, we can proceed to demonstrating to the RASD members the technology’s uses. One of the key things to do at this point is to show the RASD members the fine and coarse adjustments for the shelling. Specifically for groundnuts, it will be important to finely adjust the height of the rotor so that the lowest breakage rate is achieved. Breakage occurs when the whole peanuts break in two out of their thin, red husk. Whole peanuts are much more valuable on the market than broken peanuts, so it is important to prove that the machine can shell the peanuts without breaking them into two.

Work with RASD to explore potential markets for the machine

I think the general idea for our work in exploring potential markets is to contact and talk to as many local farmers and agricultural specialists as possible about the technology and hopefully bring them to the RASD center to demonstrate what the UNS can do. Roey has given us several people to contact who thinks may be able to help us in this regard. Here I will talk about each contact and how they could help us with exploring potential markets. First, we should set up a meeting to visit the Coffee Research Center, which is apart of the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO). Our contact there is named James Ogwang. Roey brought a UNS machine to the center. Hopefully, some of the researchers at the center have been testing the machine for wet and dry processing. I feel like this meeting could serve us in several ways. 1. We could learn a plethora of information about coffee production in Uganda and also in the Nkokonjero area. 2. The researchers may be able to show us the best, more effective ways of using the machine to husk coffee. 3. James and others may be able to connect us with local coffee producers who we could then introduce the UNS to. 4. We could establish a relationship with the center, which could potentially lead to an internship or a partnership in the future. Staying with coffee, Roey gave us the contact number of Michael Kijjambu, a coffee show owner in Kampala who has partners who produce coffee in the Mukono district. Michael should also be able to give us some information on coffee production in the Mukono area in give us the contact information for his partners. We should try to meet with Michael at his coffee shop in Uganda after the safari and on the way back to Nkokonjero. Aside from coffee, there is also potential to create a market for jatropha nuts, which are currently not sold commercially. However, Royal Van Zanten, a Danish flower company, has established a chrysanthemum growing facility off Nkokonjero Road in the Mukono district in the past year and they are partly fueling their operation with biofuel derived from jatropha nuts. The company currently is buying jatropha from local citizens. It would be interesting to speak with Bas Van Lankveld, the operational manager of the flower facility, to see if the jatropha is more valuable to the company if it has already been shelled by the UNS. If so, we may be able to set up the RASD center as a collection point for the jatropha nuts where people could bring the nuts, have them shelled, and then sell them to Royal Van Zanten. It is just an idea though; really I think the best thing to do would be to talk to Bas and see how he thinks the machine could be used. While speaking with Bas, try to talk to him whether he has thought about ever selling excess biofuel to local people. In the future we could look into trying to create a local market for the biofuel. It would be a way to try to create a renewable energy economy that would help to mitigate the environmental and societal costs of deforestation for firewood.

Helping the Full Belly Project test their machine against the alternative lever-powered peanut sheller

During Full Belly Project’s time in Uganda, they discovered another machine was also being used to shell peanuts cheaply and effectively. Roey said that after seeing the machine he wasn’t sure if the Full Belly Project has the best technology for shelling peanuts. The technology was found in a number of different places around Uganda and was being produced by local metal workers. Each machine was unique; every metal worker made the machine slightly differently although they all worked on the same principles. Below is a picture of the machine. Frankly I don’t exactly understand how the machine works. My general understanding is that a pivoting arm presses nuts at the bottom of the machine between curved bars, wires, metal burs, or something else that creates friction. One thing that Jeff and Roey want us to do while we are in Uganda is to try to test the UNS against this other technology. They suggested the best way to do this would be to contact the Agriculture Engineering and Appropriate Technology Research Institute another research institute of NARO. Our two contacts at the institute are two engineers, Candia Alphonse and Isaiah Kisekka. Normally people will give technology to the institute for testing, which they will then promote if it works well. The Full Belly Project is willing to pay for the costs of buying the additional machine. Visiting the AEATRI has other advantages too. First, it should be an incredibly interesting place to visit as the facility houses a number of different appropriate technologies that are being used to advance agriculture in Uganda. The engineers should be able to shed light on what a good design takes into account and also give us idea for future design projects. Second, AEATRI sounds like it would be a wonderful place for a Pratt Duke Engage intern, so we should try to create a relationship with them for future collaboration. Further, Full Belly Project has asked us to bring back one of this alternative shellers to North Carolina, so they can have one for testing. Roey said that AEATRI can order us one of these machines, costing about 120,000 to 150,000 UDX (90 dollars). We should be able to take the legs off the machine to make it easier to package and then transport it back on the plane as carry on luggage. We will need to bring some duct tape and cardboard for packaging.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

July 19th to July 30th

Contact Candia or Isaiah from AEATRI Establish a time to visit the research institute. Order an alternative peanut sheller from them.

Contact James from the Coffee Research Institute Set up a time for us to visit.

Contact Henry Masagazi or Fred Kigenyi about ordering and transporting shellers. Order 3 shellers --- 2 for RASD and 1 for AEATRI Discuss transportation costs and payment methods

Contact Bas Van Lankveld, operational manager of the Royal Van Zanten plant. Set up a meeting.

July 30th to August 2nd Flying to Uganda and traveling to the Nkokonjero site. The meetings have not been scheduled yet. So this is all very subject to change. August 3rd to August 9th

August 2nd -9th ---- furnishing resource center August 4th – 9th ---- setting up computers and solar panels August 2nd-9th ----- obtaining peanuts, coffee and jatropha for demonstrations. August 2nd-9th ---- UNS machines arrive Lee introduces machines to RASD members Lee follows up with the James Ogwang, Michael Kijjambu, Isaiah Kisekka and Bas Van Lankveld. August 10th to 12th Safari! Matt travels with Lee back to RASD Scott and Tom fly home On the way through Kampala, meet with Michael at his coffee shop about coffee production in Mukono and to get the contact info or addresses of his producers. August 13th -19th

August 13th - - - Matt goes over fine and coarse adjustments of the machine with RASD members. August 14th --- Meet with James and others at the coffee research institute. The coffee research institute has a UNS at the institute. Also, maybe we could visit with other coffee producers this day. August 15th --- Meet with Bas Van Lankveld to talk about using the UNS to shell jatropha and potentially setting up a collection point for jatropha at the RASD resource center. August 16th ---??

August 17th --- Head to Jinja to meet with Northwestern students? Side trip to the UNS facility. August 18th ---??

August 19th --- Hire a “special hire” to take a machine to the AEATRI center. Meet with the engineers at the AEATRI center and test the UNS against the alternative peanut sheller. Pick up the alterative machine and head on to Kampala and meet up with the rest of the CBU team.

August 20th Head to Entebbe.

Other Information:

Pictures of the Alternative Peanut Shelling Machine

UNS Diagrams:

Comments from the Instructables site on how to adjust the machine for different nut sizes:

Set on box or 1/2 oil drum or other supporting object. To adjust for shelling bigger or smaller nuts raise or lower the rotor. To raise the rotor release the lock nut and spin handle to expose more thread on shaft. To lower the rotor do the opposite.

Setting for Nut Size:

Shell a nut by hand. Drop through gap in metering plates. If the nut falls through the bottom of the machine, raise the rotor by turning the handle clockwise. If the nut fails to drop through, lower the rotor until it does. At that point tighten the lock nut.

Fine Tuning:

Shell 1 liter of nuts. If breakage rate is high lower rotor. If too many nuts are unshelled raise rotor. In the case of any nuts with a wide variety of sizes you may have to set for large nuts and separate unshelled small nuts and pass through machine again.

Setting for Volume of Nuts Shelled:

If nuts shell too slowly. Loosen wingnut on metering plate and adjust top plate to open gap.

Setting for Larger Nuts

If you want to set for larger nuts you may have to undo the two small bols on the the top bearing tube with an adjustable wrench and drop the entire assembly as far as necessary.

Contact Information:

Henry Masagazi – owner of the Iganga UNS production facility Phone: 0753200323

Fred Kigenyi – operator/manger of the Iganga UNS production facility Phone: 07828461333

Bas Van Lankveld – Operational Manager of the Royal Van Zanten Mukono flower plant Phone: +256 31 23 41 00 Mobile: +256 77 74 55 55 Email: [email protected]

James Ogwang – Works at Coffee Research Center off Nkokonjero road Phone: 0772402064 Michael Kijjambu – coffee house owner in Kampala who has farming partners in the Mukono district. Email: [email protected] Phone: 0782544313 0772505619

Candia Alphonse – Engineer at Agriculture Engineering and Appropriate Technology Research Institute Phone: +256 41 566161 Mobile: +256 722 328519 Email: [email protected]

Isaiah Kisekka – Engineer at AEATRI Phone: 0712627846 Email: [email protected]

Vessal Nourani – UNC AGRADU intern working in Kasese for Appropriate Technology group Certrud Phone: 0773240811

Ignatius Bwoogi – RASD Director Phone: 256 772 923712

John Ssemogere – RASD Project Manager Phone : 0772 885 049

Addresses:

AEATRI Address according to Roey:

“Namalerere, 2 Kms, off Bombo Road. Not very specific. The place is about half an hour north of Kampala as I remember it, near the town of Kwanda. Your best bet is to get them on the phone and have them talk to your driver.”