Mobile seed cleaning and treatment unit designed and developed with support from ICARDA

Abstract

ICARDA and its national partners in Tunisia designed and developed a prototype of a “Mobile seed cleaning and treatment unit” which has also been locally manufactured at low cost. One-unit costs 12.500 TND (about 4.350 US$) and has a capacity of about 800 kg / hour depending on the kind of seeds treated. Four (4) units have been delivered and distributed to farmers’ associations having between 150 and 350 members each and are located in different North Western and Central regions of Tunisia (on average, over 1, 000 small-scale farmers will benefit directly from these units). Members of these associations rarely purchase forage seeds on the market; either because they are not available on the market or prefer to use their own farm seeds to reduce costs. These farm seeds are normally cleaned manually, so the final product still contains some unproductive seeds (broken seeds or small sized seeds). With the help of these Mobile seed cleaning and treatment unit, members of these farmer associations can significantly increase their seed quality and consequently their barley fodder production. In addition, the unit can serve as an income generating activity for the association as farmers have to pay renting fees to use the machine.