By Sah Terence Animbom
Anyone who has taken part in the slews of meticulous moments of tons of cocoa pod breaking will testify that it is the most difficult and time-taking activity in the cocoa cultivation process. A cocoa pod breaker must ensure the safety of the cocoa bean which must not be wounded, else it is destroyed.
Cognizant of all these intricacies in the process, cocoa farmers thus spend wads of cash every farming season in the payment of labourers who very often sustain injuries on their left hands bearing the cocoa pod to be broken as once in a while, out of 500 to 1000 pods and sometimes even as minimal as 100 to 200 pods, the sharp machete used for breaking momentarily slides pass the cocoa pod into the hand bearing it.
With the slews of time taken to complete the process, coupled with the minor accidents of finger bruising, farmers in the central African sub region, West Africa and Cameroon in particular have suffered the consequences of slow technological development from time immemorial and have been in wonderment of how to get out of such a time consuming process.
The invention of a cocoa pod breaking machine therefore by Nyuo John Chia, a 25 year old engineer and product of the College of Technology of the University of Bamenda is a ground breaking invention in the field of cocoa production.
The young engineer who studied agricultural engineering in the College of Technology of UBa says “I started my project from scratch. From conception to realization is my idea. My supervisor did not give me a lot of inputs in the project as it is mostly the case with other complicated projects. This project was realized for my end of course certificate exams and I must say I am highly impressed with the efficiency rate it has had and the positive feedback I get concerning it. I have been to Ebolowa in the South to demonstrate with the machine to cocoa farmers there and the response is quite amazing. I have also presented the machine at the North West regional delegation of scientific research and technological developments earning a second prize there.”
Talking on how the machine works, he explained that the machine if operated by efficient and duty-conscious people can break one ton of cocoa pods in just two hours.
Though faced with challenges of patenting the invention and going into more production of samples for the market, requiring about FCFA 11,000,000 (Eleven million), Nyuo is positive that he will however solve a serious agricultural challenge in the society with his very necessary and timely invention.
Talking with one of Africa’s leading Professors of engineering Prof. Tangka Julius Kewir and Nyuo’s supervisor on the project, he said “John’s invention is a very laudable initiative that I have encouraged right from the start, reason why I accepted to supervise him. I do not supervise any kind of project no matter how sophisticated it sounds. Some students come up with proposals that are targeted at solving problems faced by European countries which to me do not make sense to our own country. Unlike other projects that I supervise and make a lot of inputs to help the project successful, I did not make much input in John’s work and it is the reason I say he has done a great job. As to the help the university can give him, we have made sure that he competes with his machine in technological innovations contests in schools so that from there he can stand a chance of being sponsored. It is rather unfortunate that we do not have the means in some state universities to support him financially as in other schools” Prof. Tangka narrated.
Nyuo’s machine has so far earned the admiration of many cocoa farmers and given them some sort of new hope.