Reduce work on your farm with a thresher

By Stella Naigino

AS James Mugerwa plants his crops, he is happy that it’s a rainy season so, his crops will germinate and maybe, he will get good yields.

With a smile on his face, he says he is relieved of the hustle that comes with irrigation during the dry season

Since it’s a rainy season he is planting in as many gardens as he can.

However he is worried of the harvesting time, which will require him to double his efforts to be able to harvest.

He has to do it himself or even employ more man power which to him is very costly.

Davis Mugambe a farmer advises Mugerwa not to worry but rather reduce on his farm work during the harvesting period with a thresher.

Mugambe says harvesting is usually a busy time for farmers and most crops mature at the same time and, in addition, the fields have to be prepared for the next crop after harvesting. The potential for accidents is therefore high.

“The only way to reduce on the work load is to own a thresher on your farm,” he says.

He adds that a thresher is made for the separation of grain from stalks and husks.

He notes that most farmers separate grains from stalks by hand and it is time consuming, taking about one-quarter of agricultural labour.

However with the introduction of technology, work can be simplified by mechanization.

He says threshers come in different types and sizes at an affordable price depending on the type you prefer.

He says some are maize threshers, rice thresher, millet threshers but all do the same work.

The machine is loaded with tools that cut and gather where some are hand-driven or mounted on the front of a tractor.

How it works

Edna Namusobya a dealer in farm equipment says it’s important for farmers to plant crops in a row so that when it comes to harvesting, work is made easier.

She says while using a thresher and with crops being in a row, allows it to be passed in the row to pick up the crop.