ADDITIONAL TESTING AND EXTENSION
The original prototype on-man thresher with wooden bearings as discussed above was tried over several days in February 1974 on a University research plot. The machine described in detail in this report was not completed until the end of the 1978 main growing season, and thus no testing or extension has yet been actioned with this machine (as of 1978).
Rayner (1975) borrowed a commercial Indian-made treadle rice thresher for trial with sorghum growers near Gairo in Tanzania. He reported a positive reaction from those farmers, despite the thresher being largely ineffective for sorghum.
A tractor-PTO (power take off) driven thresher using plain wooden beaters and no concave was produced and used at Morogoro in 1975 for several weeks during the harvesting season. Seven people fed sorghum heads to the drum. The machine proved the general principle of the threshing mechanism and technique used on this pedal thresher.
At Ulaya Ujamaa Village near Kilosa Tanzania, Msimbira (1974) introduced a pedal water pump for irrigation of horticultural produce. This project was well received and well utilised, being greatly preferred over using buckets and watering cans.
De Vries (1975) and the writer modified a damaged hand-operated single-hole imported Indian maize sheller to one-man pedal operation for Kisingi Ujamaa Village, near Morogoro. This modification was also well received.
The writer in 1974 modified a complete 'Hunts Minimill' grain mill from hand operation to one-man pedal operation, and loaned the mill to Lukobe Ujamaa Village, near Morogoro. The machine was however not found acceptable, due to its high torque requirement and lack of a flywheel.