CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 05/12/21

Small-scale shellers help African peanut breeders

By Allison Floyd

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut is deploying several innovative small-scale shellers and grading tables to assist groundnut breeding teams in Africa. The equipment will help collaborators in Senegal, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique in their quest to release drought- and disease-resistant high-yielding varieties that smallholder farmers need.

Partnering with Frank Nolin, a semi-retired peanut processing equipment manufacturer in the U.S., the innovation lab developed small scale shelling and grading equipment to help overseas partners – particularly breeding programs – with the routine task of shelling nuts. While Nolin spent a career building industrial-scale equipment for agriculture in the U.S., he’s invested his time and know-how since retirement into Franks Designs for Peanuts to create machines that work in other contexts.

“We developed several models, and demonstrated them in Haiti, Malawi and the US. Scientists in the U.S. found the machines most useful for shelling moderately large seed lots -- a few tons -- quickly. We have also tested small sizing shaker tables, which are useful for sizing and sorting small seed lots,” said Dave Hoisington, the director of the Peanut Innovation Lab.

When the Peanut Innovation Lab, which is headquartered at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, started its current program in 2018, one of the first tasks was to assess the needs of a group of groundnut breeders across the continent. The scientists, many of them the only groundnut breeder in their region or country, collaborate with one another, sharing ideas, resources and germplasm to fight disease and improve groundnut resilience.

That needs-assessment showed small scale mechanization – to prepare seed and speed up agronomic and variety field trials – could build capacity in the breeding programs.

Different models of the sheller are made to turn through a hand crank or with an electric motor, while a set of various sized shelling baskets allow the machines to handle a wide range of seed shapes and sizes grown in different geographies.

Similarly, electric and hand-cranked grading tables come with several screens to allow a user to customize the machine for the task at hand.

The ease of customizing for the seed size minimizes splits and breakage. While the equipment may not be ideal for early-stage breeding in which each seed is important, the sheller can speed up shelling where large plots are used in research.

The machines also hold promise to improve the value chain in some countries that lack an organized system for grading. By giving aggregators a way to test for aflatoxin and grade peanut in outlying areas, buyers can pay a premium for good quality nuts and reward farmers who invest time and resources into following best practices.

“We are currently evaluating a package of these technologies for a buying point grading and aflatoxin testing system in Malawi to support an effort to move to in-shell trade there. Our partners in Haiti have used the hand-cranked sheller and aspirator to speed up their ability to do field-based aflatoxin and moisture tests prior to purchasing from farmers,” said Jamie Rhoads, the assistant director of the Innovation Lab.

Allison Floyd is the PR coordinator for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut, which is headquartered at UGA.

Authors:
Allison Floyd
Experts/Sources:
Dave Hoisington
An innovative small-scale sheller can be adjusted to shell various sizes of nuts grown in different geographies. By replacing the sheller basket of the machine and passing unshelled nuts through twice, a user speed up the monotonous task with few broken or split nuts. (Photo by Allison Floyd) Frank Nolin, assisted by his wife Lorna, builds specialized peanut equipment to meet the needs of researchers, peanut breeders, aggregators, and others, mostly outside the U.S. The Peanut Innovation Lab is partnering with Nolin to deploy several units across Africa to assist groundnut breeders. (Photo by Allison Floyd) The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut is deploying several innovative small-scale shellers and grading tables to assist groundnut breeding teams in Africa. The equipment, made by Franks Designs for Peanut, will help collaborators in Senegal, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique in their quest to release drought- and disease-resistant high-yielding varieties that smallholder farmers need. (Photo by Allison Floyd)
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Download Image
Interns traveled from Madagascar to Senegal for an immersive three-month training. Velonarivo, Ranto Navalona Andriamialy, George Randriamampandry, and Nomeniavo Miantsom Rakotoarivony recently returned home with one of their mentors to put their knowledge to work. CAES News
In South-to-South training, Senegalese experts mentor Malagasy students 10/24/24 Allison Floyd
In an innovative South-to-South training program organized by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut, Senegalese experts welcomed Malagasy interns to their west African country this year for an immersive learning opportunity that covered topics from the basics of planning research trials to the most high-tech genetics analysis. Eight interns from Madagascar arrived in Senegal in July for training in designing, conducting and assessing breeding trials, specifically in sorghum and peanut.
The Peanut Innovation Lab has worked with Pyxus Agriculture, a private company in Malawi, to answer research questions that will help the company to build a formal peanut sector in the Southern Africa country. CAES News
Public-private partnership leverages research for development strength 10/23/24 Allison Floyd
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut and Pyxus Agriculture Limited (Pyxus) has made it official, inking an agreement that formalizes a partnership that pairs university and private sector research efforts to improve outcomes for farmers in Malawi. In a Memorandum of Understanding between the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and Pyxus, the partners express their mutual interest in performing and disseminating research.
Norah Kaula (left0 and Wills Munthali recently joined the Peanut IL management team, overseeing biological research in Malawi. CAES News
Peanut IL adds project managers in Malawi 10/14/24 Allison Floyd
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab is adding two new project managers to the team in Malawi. Norah Titiya Machinjiri Kaula will focus on agronomy and tricot trials, while Wills Mbiriyawaka Munthali will focus on variety trials and seed production. They join Linda Chinangwa, who manages the lab’s social science work in the country.
Momodou Cham of The Gambia takes video of a peanut picker running through the field as part of the Georgia Peanut Tour. (Photo by Allison Floyd) CAES News
From Africa to Georgia: Visitors tour peanut value chain 09/24/24 Allison Floyd
Each year, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut brings partners from other countries to share in the three-day bus tour throughout the southern half of Georgia. This year, the lab hosted three dozen guests from Ghana, Senegal, The Gambia, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia for the three-day tour, as well as two additional days of visits to research sites, a food product innovation center, the U.S. peanut germplasm collection and meetings.
groundnuts CAES News
UGA supports African research network breeding climate-adapted peanuts 07/24/24 Allison Floyd
More than 4,000 miles separate the capital cities of Senegal in West Africa and Uganda in East Africa. Yet both countries grow peanuts and, like other countries across Africa, farmers there rely on peanuts as a food and cash crop. Five years ago, the researchers who help those farmers – plant breeders from Uganda, Senegal and seven other African countries – formed an organization called the Groundnut Improvement Network for Africa, or GINA, to develop peanut varieties that help African farmers deal with plant diseases and climate change.  
Veronica Guwela oversees biological science projects in Malawi. CAES News
Guwela oversees variety, production projects in Malawi 05/23/24 Allison Floyd
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut recently added two team members in Malawi to oversee projects there. While the Peanut Innovation Lab is headquartered at the University of Georgia and involves scientists from two dozen research insitutions in the U.S. and Africa, these Malawi-based team members are part of the management entity, overseeing day-to-day operations in a very hands-on way. Meet Veronica Guwela, project manager for bio-science research.