In an offlist response to my post on Fonio Day (7/27) David Brenner asked if there was more information about Sanoussi Diakité'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. Diakité. * Cruz, Jean-Francóis, Famoï Beavogui, & Djibril Dramé, "Le fonio, une céréale africaine," Éditions Quae, 2011. https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/31535 (2 options to download) * Cruz, Jean-Francóis & Famoï Beavogui, with the collaboration of Djibril Dramé 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 ("décortiquers"), and indeed approaches to dehulling, are discussed. Diakité'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 Dramé, Djibril, Claude Marouzé, Gouyahali Son, Francis Loua, & Jean-François Cruz, 'Décorticage du fonio : Rapport de synthèse," Projet CFC/IGG - (FIGG/02) - Amélioration des Technologies Post-récolte 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 Marouzé, Claude, Djibril Dramé, Francis Loua, Gouyahali Son, & Patrice Thaunay. Décortiqueuer à Fonio GMBF: Dossier de fabrication. Projet Fonio CFC/ICG - Amélioration des Technologies Post-récolte 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: Ferré, Thierry, Jean-François Cruz, & Ignace Medah, "La mécanisation du décorticage du fonio au Mali et au Burkina Faso : Étude de cas," ImpresS (Impact of Research in the South), Juin 2016. https://agritrop.cirad.fr/586750/1/Etude_de_cas_%C3%A9quipement_fonio_IMPRES... 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. Diakité. "Sanoussi Diakité, inventeur de la décortiqueuse 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. Diakité 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. Diakité'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: Ferré, Thierry, Ignace Medah, Jean-François Cruz, Marie-Hélène 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... 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 Yolélé), 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 Diakité, who dates his invention of a fonio dehulling machine to 27 July 1993./1 Mr. Diakité 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" (Ɔvazu), 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 Diakité: 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 (Fête des moissons en pays Akposso et Akebou)," Togo Tourisme https://togo-tourisme.com/culture/fetes-traditionnelles/ovazu-fete-des-moiss...