On-farm Evaluation of Double Disc Wet Coffee Pulper

Coffee is the world's favorite drink, the most important commercial crop plant, and the second most valuable international commodity after oil. Coffee berries are pulped in two ways: wet and dry pulping. This method preserves the instinctive characteristics of coffee, including aroma, and produces beans that retain their natural quality better, which is most preferred by consumers. The Jimma Agricultural Engineering Research Center has developed a double-disc wet coffee pulper. The purpose of the study was to to evaluate Engine-operated double-disc wet coffee pulpers with farmers in the field. Andode Alega, Elke Togobe, Atiro Sofa, Shani Besira, and Onja were selected based on the potential of coffee production from three districts (Seka Chokorsa, Setema, and Sigimo) for distribution and popularization of the technology. Training was attended by 50 young farmers (25 Female, 25 Male) and 10 agricultural workers (SMS and DAs). Performance evaluation of the technology was made based on the attributes identified. The average pulping capacity of 983.33kg/hr, pulping efficiency of 97.10%, un-pulping loss of 1.87%, and breakage of 1.28% were obtained at feeding rate of 7kg/min and drum speed of 260 rpm. The pulper has good pulping performance as preferred by the participant farmers, which needs to be multiplied for greater popularization.