ASI Thresher
The ASI thresher is adopted to local conditions in Africa through the cooperation of AfricaRice, SAED (Senegal's extension agency) and ISRA (Senegal's national research institute) hence the name ASI. A prototype was imported from IRRI in the 1990s.
The ASI thresher technology is developed to reduce quantitative postharvest loss in terms of grains associated with manual threshing and drudgery. It also lessens the labor and time requirements for threshing operations as its’ output capacity is expected to be 2.5 ton/hour compared to manual threshing which is significantly low.
The ASI thresher is composed of a threshing drum, blower, loading tray, shaker, two paddy outlets (one for filled paddy and the other for unfilled paddy), towing bar and two wheels. It has an engine mounted on it. The threshing capacity is expected to reach 2.5ton/hour. Generally it is made of different sizes of angle irons, 2mm plates, U-bar, 30 cm pulley (aluminum), 25cm pulleys (aluminum) 15cm pulley (aluminum), different sizes of shafts and bearings.
It is of compact structure and reasonable design and elegant looking. It provides complete process with clean finished paddy once operated. It is easy to operate and mobile.
The ASI thresher costs around USD 4,500 (i.e. engine as power source estimated cost at USD 920 and local materials for the construction estimated at USD3,600). Cost-benefit analysis is ongoing and will be available soon.