Entrepreneurship is about the use of innovation and creativity to create solutions to particular problems faced by people or bridging certain gaps in the society.
This description perfectly fits the story of Kelvin Khauke, a 22-year-old former student in fabrication and welding at Lilongwe Technical College who has invented a maize sheller.
Traditionally, people, especially in the village have been shelling maize manually using hands. Later on, small devices begun to be made and used until today when big machines are appearing on the agriculture scene.
One of the innovations currently trending in Lilongwe is a maize sheller made by Khauke from Kanengo area.
The machine is powered by an electric motor and has six main parts, namely the inlet for maize cobs, the shelling unit, the outlet for cobs, outlet for dust been blown by the blower, the blower and the maize outlet.
Khauke’s innovation earned him a Young Innovators Award and received K500,000 prize money from the Ministry of Education in 2021.
He said the electric-powered maize sheller operates when it is powered on and let run for few minutes before filling the maize cobs in the hoper for it to gain a momentum (to be fully powered).
Said Khauke: “When the machine hits the road, you start filling the hopper with more maize cobs continuously. Then the maize goes straight to the shelling unit where the process of shelling takes place and after that there is separation of the seeds (maize), cobs and dust.”
He offers shelling services as the machine was successfully tried by several clients (farmers) in his residential area.
Said Khauke: “I handle more orders to offer maize services during maize harvesting period. First, I tested the machine and the results were awesome. The percentages of the damaged maize was at 0.2 percent and cobs at 10 percent. Since then, I have been working on the machine to perfect its effective operation.”
Asked what inspired him to come up with the maize shelling machine Khauke said: “I observed that since time immemorial many people, including the elderly in my area still shell maize manually despite the coming in of technology. To make matters worse, it could take them days or weeks to fill few bags of shelled maize. So, I wanted to ease the process and help my community to embrace this technology.”
He added that his innovation was important because it was aligned with the structure of the country’s economy which heavily relies on agriculture.
Khauke said he was looking forward to come up with different agro-processing machines to help the country.
He, however, urged government and other players to support young innovators by giving them enough resources to create more innovative products such as machines.
Said the innovator: “It’s not easy for young innovators to assemble materials in order to create something. In my case, I used scrap metals whose price was even on the higher side. Therefore, I would like to request government and private companies to invest in young people’s innovations so that they are able to manufacture more products and put them on the market.
“Many brilliant innovations die a natural death at concept or prototype level due to lack of resources.”
Speaking recently at Linde Motel in Mponela during a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) and Namitete Technical College (NATEC) on enhancing the quality and relevance of technical and vocational training.
The director of the Directorate of Technical and Vocational Training (DTVT) in the ministry of Labour, Richard Chirwa, highlighted technical and vocational skills as key to fostering industrialisation and and agricultural productivity.
Development Economics commentator Henry Kamkwamba, who works at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC, said innovations increase efficiency in the value chain and may result in affordable prices.
A farmer Trevor Dzimbiri from Area 25 B in Lilongwe also commended the technology, describing it as cost-effective.
“I have been shelling maize manually for the past years and the process was taking long. But now, I can hire the maize sheller and do it within a day.
“The maize sheller is cost effective as it saves both the time and money,” he said.
Another farmer, Enifer Phiri, said technology was vital for farmers in rural areas where they need a lot of speed to process their harvests.
“Farmers usually do not have all the time to dedicate their energy to one activity. So, when they use the maize sheller it saves time for other crucial agricultural activities such as packing and storing their farm produces,” she said.
