ABSTRACT
One of the greatest problems affecting technological development and indeed agricultural development in Nigeria is the absence of homemade (Local) processing equipment. It has been noted that the present agricultural processing machines or equipment are being imported which makes them very expensive and cannot therefore be conveniently afforded by average individuals. Since the use of locally designed and constructed machines can greatly reduce the hard work and drudgery associated with beans processing, increase productivity, and improve the nation’s economy, a hand operated portable machine for peeling bean coat was developed and tested on bean seeds.
The result showed an improvement in the manually executed beans peeling. An efficiency of 66% was recorded using a 0.5 kg weight of beans soaked for 4 minutes. Similarly, the time of operation was reduced from about 54 minutes for a 2kg beans to 4.8 minutes using the designed machine. The machine, if commercialized will create jobs, increase our nations G.D.P and finally provide an easy way of peeling beans for commercial quantity.
