The fonio husking machine was invented by Sanoussi Diakité, a
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤠ðž ...
ese
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
. Diakité was awarded the
Rolex Award
Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...
in 1996 for the invention.
Fonio
Fonio is the term for two cultivated grasses in the genus ''Digitaria'' that are notable crops in parts of West Africa. They are millets with small grains.
Fonio is a nutritious food with a favorable taste. It is consumed mainly in West African ...
is a
staple crop
A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...
in western
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. Because the fonio
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
s are so small, their brittle outer shell is difficult to remove. "For hundreds of years, African women have carried out the painstaking task of preparing fonio by pounding and threshing a grain and sand mixture with a pestle and mortar. After one hour of this tedious work, only two kilograms of fonio are available for consumption and fifteen liters of water are needed to remove the sand." The whole process has been reduced from a 1-hour job to a 6-minute job.
Diakité's solution was a device that gently abrades the surface of the seed before passing through a rotating mechanism, which removes the husks. The machine can husk of fonio in 8 minutes.
Awards
Diakité's device is an example of
appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is a movement (and its manifestations) encompassing technological choice and application that is small-scale, affordable by locals, decentralized, labor-intensive, energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable, and locally ...
, because of its ability to solve a significant problem in developing countries and the ease with which it can be manufactured. In 2008, Diakité's work was one of the laureates of
The Tech Awards
The Tech Awards (expanded in 2016 to The Tech for Global Good) is a program of The Tech Interactive (previously The Tech Museum of Innovation) wherein innovators from any country are recognized for technological contributions which benefit the g ...
in the Health Award category.
Diakité received the Innovation Prize for Africa in 2013.
[{{Cite news, url=https://vc4a.com/blog/2013/05/08/innovation-prize-for-africa-2013-announces-winners/, title=Innovation Prize for Africa 2013 announces winners, work=Venture Capital for Africa, access-date=2017-10-13, language=en-US]
See also
*
Malian peanut sheller
*''
Digitaria exilis
''Digitaria exilis'', referred to as findi or fundi in areas of Africa, such as The Gambia, with English common names white fonio, fonio millet, and hungry rice or acha rice, is a grass species. It is the most important of a diverse group of wild ...
''
References
Appropriate technology
Senegalese inventions