A hand-held coffee bean plucking machine is being actively marketed in the current harvesting season. The machine is expected to prevent disruption in the fruit picking process due to chronic labour shortage.
The two-feet-long machine, has two V-shaped steel rods, which rotate when its 12V motor is turned on. The rotation strips the beans off the coffee plant. The machine that weighs about one kg is attached to a battery weighing 1.5 kg. The battery is strapped around the user’s waist.
The bean stripping machine is manufactured in the country by Kinelectro Lines India Pvt Ltd, similar to an Italian product manufactured by Guliver SPA. The Italian machine is imported and distributed by Ratnagiri Impex, a Bangalore-based company that specialises in farm equipment.
Mr Vynatheya Prasad, Territory Manager, Southern Karnataka, Ratnagiri Impex, told: “We have sold 42 units so far and conducted about 100 demonstrations in the coffee-growing regions of Karnataka. We get a 50 per cent subsidy from the State Agriculture Department on the actual price of the machine, which is Rs. 25,800. As a result, our buyers get the machine for Rs. 12,900.”
Mr Chaithanya Aanand, Managing Director, Kinelectro Lines, told Business Line: “We are selling the bean-stripping unit at Rs. 9,000 plus taxes. We have sold about 32 units in different areas. The unit has not yet received a subsidy.”
PRODUCTIVITY IMPACT
The success of the machine will depend on its capacity to enhance productivity, or hasten the plucking process, and compensate for non-availability of workers. Mr K. M. Nanaiah, General Manager (Materials), Tata Coffee, which is trying 40 machines, said: “On an average, a worker in our plantation plucks 150 kg of fruit in a day – experienced, resident workers could pluck 250-300 kg, whereas inexperienced migrant workers, who constitute 60-70 per cent of the workforce, may pluck less than 100 kg. The machine is held by one worker, while two others lay t