Farm tools: Manual maize mill
Sep 13, 2011
There is no electricity in Sundet village in Kween district – a region in eastern Uganda. So to mill their posho, a staple food in the area, the locals have to use a hand mill.
BY FREDERICK WOMAKUYU
There is no electricity in Sundet village in Kween district – a region in eastern Uganda. So to mill their posho, a staple food in the area, the locals have to use a hand mill.
The milled flour tastes like fresh maize and it is very appetising with a nice flavour. Apparently the maize flour is milled without first removing the external coating, which explains the fresh maize flavor.
The flour tastes like maize that has been crushed in a traditional mortal using a pestle.
Make-up of the grinding mill
A manual mill actually operates like a traditional mortar but this time with a wheel and handle mounted on one end and a small container on top.
The mill is then mounted on a tree log for stability.
The dry maize grains are poured into the container that is shaped like a sink, with a hole in the middle.
A bucket is placed beneath the hole to trap the milled maize flour. Before milling starts, the metallic bits are lubricated using old engine oil to ease movement.
The maize is crashed by the metallic round plate with toothed edges.
This manual mill appears crude but this is what residents of Sundet village are using to grind their maize into floor for posho. They are a community with no access to modern mills powered by either fossil fuel or electricity. The nearest powered mill is actually 45 kms away in Kapchorwa town and they charge sh200 per kilo of maize that is ground by the mill.
The mill can process one kilogram of maize in three minutes, depending on how strong the operator is.
Unlike modern mills with sieves, this one has none. The mill is communally owned so you don’t have to pay money to mill your maize, just your energy.
History of the manual mill
The manual mills were first introduced in the area in the 1970s when Uganda was facing economic hardships and rural communities could no longer afford to sustain a powered mill, yet posho was their main food. .
Some enterprising people crossed over to Kenya and bought these manual mills. The machines were by then costing sh200 in the 1970s, an equivalent of about sh120, 000 today.
There about 150 left in the village today. Currently they cost between sh200, 000 and 400,000. The machines are common in Kenya where they are still being used in in rural areas. A few are on sale in Mbale.
While the rural areas go for these machines because they are cheap and affordable, some rich families use them to get whole grain flour from the maize.
Since the mills are more or less communally owned, using them is free, although sometimes the user may offer a small amount of maize floor to the family that keeps and maintains the mill.
One unique thing with manual mill is that it is made of a steel body which lasts a long time, as long as the wheel is oiled every after a fortnight.
The one in Kween was bought in 1975.
Kukoi says used oil is then fixed into the wheel to allow faster grinding, and it is ready for use.
There is no electricity in Sundet village in Kween district – a region in eastern Uganda. So to mill their posho, a staple food in the area, the locals have to use a hand mill.
The milled flour tastes like fresh maize and it is very appetising with a nice flavour. Apparently the maize flour is milled without first removing the external coating, which explains the fresh maize flavor.
The flour tastes like maize that has been crushed in a traditional mortal using a pestle.
Make-up of the grinding mill
A manual mill actually operates like a traditional mortar but this time with a wheel and handle mounted on one end and a small container on top.
The mill is then mounted on a tree log for stability.
The dry maize grains are poured into the container that is shaped like a sink, with a hole in the middle.
A bucket is placed beneath the hole to trap the milled maize flour. Before milling starts, the metallic bits are lubricated using old engine oil to ease movement.
The maize is crashed by the metallic round plate with toothed edges.
This manual mill appears crude but this is what residents of Sundet village are using to grind their maize into floor for posho. They are a community with no access to modern mills powered by either fossil fuel or electricity. The nearest powered mill is actually 45 kms away in Kapchorwa town and they charge sh200 per kilo of maize that is ground by the mill.
The mill can process one kilogram of maize in three minutes, depending on how strong the operator is.
Unlike modern mills with sieves, this one has none. The mill is communally owned so you don’t have to pay money to mill your maize, just your energy.
History of the manual mill
The manual mills were first introduced in the area in the 1970s when Uganda was facing economic hardships and rural communities could no longer afford to sustain a powered mill, yet posho was their main food. .
Some enterprising people crossed over to Kenya and bought these manual mills. The machines were by then costing sh200 in the 1970s, an equivalent of about sh120, 000 today.
There about 150 left in the village today. Currently they cost between sh200, 000 and 400,000. The machines are common in Kenya where they are still being used in in rural areas. A few are on sale in Mbale.
While the rural areas go for these machines because they are cheap and affordable, some rich families use them to get whole grain flour from the maize.
Since the mills are more or less communally owned, using them is free, although sometimes the user may offer a small amount of maize floor to the family that keeps and maintains the mill.
One unique thing with manual mill is that it is made of a steel body which lasts a long time, as long as the wheel is oiled every after a fortnight.
The one in Kween was bought in 1975.
Kukoi says used oil is then fixed into the wheel to allow faster grinding, and it is ready for use.