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Today's Topics:
1. Mechanization of fonio processing (Re: International Fonio
Day - July 27) (Don Osborn)
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2024 13:42:22 -0400
From: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org>
To: collab@lists.millets2023.space
Subject: [Collab] Mechanization of fonio processing (Re: International
Fonio Day - July 27)
Message-ID:
<CA+RHibVjp8Zdh8gSqv+j8waDuDVW9okYm1GGESvs7ds1hGtBVw@mail.gmail.com>
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In an offlist response to my post on Fonio Day (7/27) David Brenner asked
if there was more information about Sanoussi Diakit?'s fonio dehulling
machine. Well, I found all that and a lot more - all but the first and the
last two in French only. Per the title of this email, I'll broaden the
scope slightly to mention mechanical threshing of fonio (which is still
typically harvested by hand, as far as I know), but still focus on
dehulling.
Since we're now in August, with fonio as the millet of the month, I'll
summarize this information below as a matter of record, for those who have
an interest in dehulling technologies for fonio and in general (it's not as
simple as one might think). In the process, a picture emerges of how the
fonio dehulling technology has continued to develop, especially since the
early 1990s, and what its impact has been on fonio production.
A good starting place is within a book on fonio from the 2010s, first
published in French, and then in English translation. See chapter 6 on
improving post-harvest technologies, which mentions early interest in
mechanizing fonio processing - in Guinea during the early 1900s..Mechanical
dehulling is discussed in a section of that chapter beginning on page 93 in
the English edition, and page 106 in the French. The "Sanoussi" dehuller is
the one originated by Mr. Diakit?.
* Cruz, Jean-Franc?is, Famo? Beavogui, & Djibril Dram?, "Le fonio, une
c?r?ale africaine," ?ditions Quae, 2011.
https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/31535 (2 options to
download)
* Cruz, Jean-Franc?is & Famo? Beavogui, with the collaboration of Djibril
Dram? and Thierno Alimou Diallo, ""Fonio, an african cereal," CIRAD & IRAG,
2016. https://agritrop.cirad.fr/582085/1/ID582085.pdf
For deeper dives into the design and operation of various dehullers, there
are a number of shorter documents. First, one from 2004: In it, several
dehullers ("d?cortiquers"), and indeed approaches to dehulling, are
discussed. Diakit?'s was evidently the first (dating back to the 1990s),
and is called here by his first name "Sanoussi." Other dehullers apparently
use different methods
Dram?, Djibril, Claude Marouz?, Gouyahali Son, Francis Loua, &
Jean-Fran?ois Cruz, 'D?corticage du fonio : Rapport de synth?se," Projet
CFC/IGG - (FIGG/02) - Am?lioration des Technologies Post-r?colte du Fonio
(CIRAD-IER-IRAG-IRSAT), Juin 2004 (31 pages)
https://agritrop.cirad.fr/607531/1/ID607531.pdf
Then there is a 2005 book by some of the same authors about an improved
dehuller, built on the experience of the earlier machines: GMBF evidently
stands for the four countries involved in the design: Guinea, Mali, Burkina
(Faso), and France
Marouz?, Claude, Djibril Dram?, Francis Loua, Gouyahali Son, & Patrice
Thaunay. D?cortiqueuer ? Fonio GMBF: Dossier de fabrication. Projet Fonio
CFC/ICG - Am?lioration des Technologies Post-r?colte du Fonio. L'Harmattan,
2005.
So, from the mid-2000s it seems that the GMBF dehuller was the focus of
attention, at least in Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso. See for example a
2016 study report:
Ferr?, Thierry, Jean-Fran?ois Cruz, & Ignace Medah, "La m?canisation du
d?corticage du fonio au Mali et au Burkina Faso : ?tude de cas," ImpresS
(Impact of Research in the South), Juin 2016.
https://agritrop.cirad.fr/586750/1/Etude_de_cas_%C3%A9quipement_fonio_IMPRESS.pdf
The latter document reports that farmers credit dehullers with saving fonio
from abandonment as a crop. This, because of the time and labor previously
necessary to dehull it (mostly on the part of women).
This is a theme mentioned also in a short video featuring Mr. Diakit?.
"Sanoussi Diakit?, inventeur de la d?cortiqueuse de fonio," BBC Afrique, 16
April 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxB3vyhUZPE . Given the date of
this video, one has the impression that Mr. Diakit? continues work on his
dehuller, and that it is very much still in use in Senegal, at least.
A 2018 article discusses fonio dehulling technology from the point of view
of innovation and diffusion. From this, you get a sense of the background
of some of the work. Interestingly, it notes that two Malian women
discussed mechanization of fonio dehulling with CIRAD researchers in 1993 -
the same year of Mr. Diakit?'s invention in Senegal. This brief piece does
not give a sense of other initiatives or how they figure in current usage,
nor does it go into details about the technology itself, but is another
piece of the story:
Ferr?, Thierry, Ignace Medah, Jean-Fran?ois Cruz, Marie-H?l?ne Dabat,
Pierre-Yves Le Gal, Matthieu Chtioui & Agathe Devaux-Spatarakis, "Innover
dans le secteur de la transformation agroalimentaire en Afrique de
l?Ouest," Cahiers Agricultures, 27 1 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1051/cagri/2018004
Despite the impression one might get from the above that mechanical
processing of fonio (and especially dehulling) is becoming more widespread
in West Africa, it is apparently unknown to some growers. This 2020 article
about the work of Minnesota-based Terra Ingredients mentions women in a
co-op they work with, processing fonio by hand (the traditional way), and
that ""the fonio soon will not be processed by hand." It further mentions
that "The company spent 12 months on what he [Terra Ingredients director
Peter Carlson] said was an 'R&D nightmare' as it worked to create a
mechanized way to process fonio." There is no mention of how the
abovementioned efforts fit in their research and development process. Terra
Ingredients is the major importer of fonio in the US, and supplies various
enterprises with the grain; the source of this article; North Dakota-based
Stone Mill is one of their partners for late-stages of processing fonio.)
"Terra?s quest to bring fonio out of Africa and onto shelves around the
world," Stone Mill, 6 March 2020
https://www.stonemill.net/terras-quest-to-bring-fonio-out-of-africa-and-onto-shelves-around-the-world/
What Terra Ingredients and their Senegalese partner CAA are bringing to the
processing, and in particular dehulling, of fonio are developing is
larger-scale processing, both for export and local urban markets. For more
on CAA, see: https://caa.sn/about-us/ . For mention of the Terra
Ingredients - CAA partnership "to build a modern processing facility in
Dakar, Senegal for processing and dehulling," along with how Stone Mill
in ND fits into the supply chain, see:
https://www.terraingredients.com/fonio/supplychain/ . (Possible details on
their approach to dehulling will have to wait for a later posting...).
Anyway, there's clearly a lot going on in the "fonio space" in West Africa,
the US, and internationally. It seems that the small scale dehullers that
began to come on the scene in the 1990s were revolutionary, both for local
producers and for beginning the local commercialization of fonio (I saw
some of that in Bamako in 2000). That foundation has permitted more
ambitious efforts, including exports (by enterprises such as Yol?l?), as
well as the most recent larger-scale efforts mentioned above.
>From a North American perspective, ths may be interesting information for
consumers and vendors. Further technical details may be of interest for
discussions of dehulling of small millets in our region, as David
suggested. I personally wonder whether there is a potential for small scale
dehullers for artisanal producers of alternative grains.
Don
DO, EL, MI, US
NAMA
On Sun, Jul 28, 2024 at 11:12?PM Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> wrote:
> Somehow missed this, but there has been an International Fonio Day on July
> 27 for some years.
>
> Evidently it was proposed by a Senegalese, Sanoussi Diakit?, who dates his
> invention of a fonio dehulling machine to 27 July 1993./1 Mr. Diakit? won a
> Rolex award for this invention, based on its impact on local fonio
> processing and benefits to rural communities - especially women who are
> traditionally tasked with processing it by hand - in fonio-producing
> areas./2
>
> NAMA has fonio as the "millet of the month" in August this year, but could
> consider possibly switching it to July in 2025.
>
> However, it will also be good to check about other dates associated with
> fonio. Noting for example "Ovazu" (?vazu), or fonio festival, of the
> Akposso and Akebou in southern Togo, celebrated after harvest, later in the
> year,/3 often on the second Saturday of December./4
>
> Similarly, I'd like to check for other such observations connected with
> various millets, before considering further possible changes in the millet
> of the month calendar.
>
> Don Osborn, PhD
> (East Lansing, MI, US)
> North American Millets Alliance
>
> Notes:
> 1. "International Fonio Day ? 27 July," by Nicole Gregoire,
> Image-i-nations, 26 July 2016
> https://image-i-nations.com/international-fonio-day-27-july/
> 2. "Sanoussi Diakit?: Grain of Hope," Rolex Awards 1996
> https://www.rolex.org/rolex-awards/applied-technology/sanoussi-diakite
> 3. Ovazu Foundation - About, https://www.ovazufoundation.org/about
> 4. "Ovazu (F?te des moissons en pays Akposso et Akebou)," Togo Tourisme
> https://togo-tourisme.com/culture/fetes-traditionnelles/ovazu-fete-des-moissons-en-pays-akposso-et-akebou
>
>
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