UDSM student invents spice grinding machine

THE University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) has developed a simple technology that will enable young men and women to grind different spices including cinnamon, cardamom and black pepper.

Making the revelation at the institution in Mbeya Region today, Gloria Mshana, a fourth-year student pursing Bachelor Science in Agricultural Engineering and Mechanization degree behind the achievement said the machine is capable of grinding one kilogram of the fore-mentioned stuff within a minute or in other words 60 kilograms per hour.

She said with her colleagues, they designed the machine after doing research in the spice market and saw that farmers were doing a great work by growing spices, but on reaching the market to sell processed product, middlemen were intervening to do the finishing on their behalf at high costs.

“After seeing the obstacle, we said its time farmers processed the ingredients on their own and sell them direct at the market. That is why we came up with this technology for them,” she pointed out, during the National Farmers Exhibition (Nanenane) 2023 ongoing in Mbeya region.

She said that when designing the machine, the focus was also on the young entrepreneurs and looking at other ways to support them, adding: “Since it is a simple technology, whose price is affordable and in another way round, it will help address unemployment amongst the youth and if there is a possibility that they can be in groups, buy the machines and grind the spices on their own and take to the market, I think their lives will be improved.”

On his part,UDSM Head of Communication and Marketing Unit (HCMU), Dr Dotto Paul Kuhenga said the institution participated in the exhibition to share and display professional services it has on agriculture, fishing, marine sciences and animal husbandry.