IIT improvised maize sheller to hit market soon
The maize farmers across the State now have a reason to rejoice as the new ‘maize sheller’, developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, (IITBBS) will be available commercially very soon.
DA & FP had approached the School of Mechanical Sciences of IITBBS to remodel and redesign the existing maize sheller currently in circulation. IITBBS was provided a budget of Rs 9 lakh under Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana (RKVY) and were instructed to produce a better model out of the few maize sheller varieties that are being sold in the market currently. Around eight segments were identified in the existing models that needed renovation to make them more productive.
Three assistant professors from the School of Mechanical Sciences of IITBBS took six months to completely revamp the maize sheller and increase its efficiency by about 20 to 30 per cent. Assistant professors of Mechanical Sciences Arun Pradhan, Mihir Pandit and assistant professor of School of Minerals, Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, Animesh Mandal developed the prototype of the maize sheller. The earlier models of maize sheller were not only very heavy but also very high, making it very difficult for the women to load crops into it. The new sheller’s height has been reduced by 10 inches and its weight reduced by 35 kg and its weight currently is 205 kg. It also has a better cleaning mechanism so the kernels come out very clean without being damaged.
“One major thing that we had to factor in was that in the previous models, spare parts for the maize sheller were not easily available. But in the new sheller, every part can be disassembled making it highly portable,” explained Pradhan. The State Government will develop the new models that can be operated by a tractor, diesel and also electricity, and they will be priced at around Rs 50,000.
The major maize growing regions in the State are the Koraput-Balangir-Kalahandi (KBK) belt and Dhenkanal. “The State Government will first produce 17 prototypes of the renovated maize sheller to 17 districts for testing. After which, we will go for mass production of the maize sheller,” informed DA & FP Agro Enterprise Cell in-charge Bishnu Prasad Mishra.
The DA & FP has also proposed that they ask IITBBS to develop a paddy reaper and binder model as per the decision of the State Level Monitoring Committee (SMLC).