Multi-Crop Thresher (MCT)

The Multi-Crop Thresher (MCT) is an engine-driven machine that can save farmers time and money, especially when compared to manual methods.

Winner 2016
Food Security Tanzania
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Key Facts

  • The MCT threshes crops up to 75 times faster than manual methods.
  • The machine can process crops commonly grown on smallholder farms, including maize, beans, sorghum, and more.
  • Customers can earn income, paying off the machine after 70 hours.
  • Each MCT can generate USD $700 in annual income to a rural entrepreneur.
  • In 2021, Imara Tech plans to expand into other regions in Tanzania.
The MCT, with its modular design, processes crops commonly grown on smallholder farms, including maize, beans, sorghum, and more.

Key Features

The MCT is an engine-driven machine that threshes crops up to 75 times faster than manual methods and saves the average small farm over a week and a half of post-harvest labor. The MCT has a modular design that allows it to process crops commonly grown on smallholder farms, including maize, beans, sorghum, and more, and is portable so that it can easily be transported in rural areas. 

The MCT is sold at $700 to rural entrepreneurs who purchase and operate the product as a service business in their community. By bringing the machine from farm-to-farm to sell threshing services, our customers earn themselves income ($10 per hour) that allows them to pay off their machine in 70 hours. 

Smallholder farmers who use the machine are able to access mechanized equipment that they otherwise couldn’t afford and reap the benefits of higher productivity and reduced labor, up to 45 hours per acre. Smallholders can spend this time on more productive activities such as farm management and operating small businesses. 

Social Impact

Through products like the MCT, Imara Tech seeks to improve living and tough working conditions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, who form the backbone of the African economy yet are susceptible to high levels of poverty and its many effects. By enabling access to mechanized agricultural equipment, Imara Tech improves the farming practices of small farms to be more productive and sustainable, reducing the impact of poverty (SDG 1) and strengthening rural livelihoods through increased food system productivity and efficiency (SDG 2). 

Each thresher that Imara Tech sells is expected to create a new seasonal agribusiness that generates over USD $700 in annual income to a rural entrepreneur. This business is estimated to impact at least 50 small farms and save 5,000 hours of manual labor in a season.

Future Plans

Imara Tech is currently selling the MCT throughout Northern and Central Tanzania. In 2021, the company will expand its sales organization to serve other parts of Tanzania.

In addition to the MCT, Imara Tech is building a portfolio of solar-powered, income-generating agricultural machines, such as solar mills, oil presses, and peanut shellers.

Main Target Group

Rural entrepreneurs: typically male, living in rural areas, owning multiple income streams (e.g. farming, business, etc.), and have access to transport.

Main User

Smallholder farmers: growing staple crops such as maize or beans and threshing their crops manually.

Price (in USD)

$700

 

 

© Imara Tech
© Imara Tech
© Imara Tech
© Imara Tech
© Imara Tech