Egyptian innovators design truck to tackle wheat losses
A truck designed locally to put an end to wheat losses during transport from fields to storage silos is set for testing in Egypt this summer.
During the harvesting season in Egypt, it is common to see grains scattered across routes used by transport vehicles. This is due to bumpy roads, too many bags of wheat stacked on these vehicles, or bad packaging.
According to the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trading, the wheat lost during transport currently amounts to one-sixth of the local harvest, and was almost half three years ago. The country loses 15 per cent of the grain destined for its silos, costing the government about 2 billion Egyptian pounds (approximately US$1.1 million).
"The truck is also equipped with a precise system to record the weight of the crop and estimate the price for the farmer in the field."
(Mohamed Al-Kholy)
Four years ago, the former Egyptian Minister of Supply decided to tackle the problem by asking the Academy of Scientific Research to dedicate a fund to find a solution. The truck was designed by an Egyptian team from the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AENRI), under the leadership of the institute’s vice chairman for research Mohamed Al-Kholy. It was funded by a grant of one million Egyptian pounds (approximately US$56,000) from the Academy.
Read thee full article by Hazem Badr via SciDevNet.
[Photo by Mina Guli | Flickr]
