Design that Matters Field Journal

Design Challenges at the Centre Songhai

Centre Songhai was a gold mine for potential DtM design challenges. They also have the facilities and trained staff necessary to build and test many existing DtM prototypes. Finally, they have an extensive network of collaborators both with in West Africa and abroad, with whom they can exchange ideas and disseminate successful new designs.

We collected a trunk-load of preliminary data on a number of potential DtM design challenges, including this prototype palm nut shelling machine, based on a Nigerian design and currently in development at the Centre.

Fr. Nzamujo also asked DtM to look into continuing the development of a low-cost reduction gear for their various agricultural-processing equipment. Shown below is an expensive reduction gearbox imported from the US, alongside a less expensive gear set built at Songhai, made from a gearbox salvaged from a Peugeot 504.

According to Nzamujo and the staff at Centre Songhai, he toughest problems--"casse-têtes" or literally head-breakers--also involve agricultural production. Songhai is committed to developing methods for micro-production of agricultural goods, in other words, tools for adding value to the raw produce of rural agriculture. These include shelling machines, peeling machines, juice-making machines, seed presses, cotton separators, coffee roasting machines, etc. The idea is to allow rural communities to capture more of the value of the goods they produce, and also to reduce their vulnerability to fluxuations in the international prices for raw goods.

For example, in terms of a specific project, both Centre Songhai and MVV in Kemon are looking for machines to shell both sunflower seeds and sesame seeds. In both cases, there is currently no alternative to the current system of small-scale local production in the village which involves laboriously shelling both kinds of seeds by hand. Sunflower oil in particular is a nutritious and valuable commodity. Presses for the shelled seeds exist; a shelling machine would be an invaluable complement.

Another specific project is a machine to peel manioc (cassava), a starchy tuber grown throughout the tropics as a food staple. Maniocs come in a bewildering variety of shapes and sizes; as with sunflower seeds, the only means of peeling the stuff at the village level is by hand.

We have tons of additional material from our visit to the Centre, which we will process and format as formal DtM design challenges when we get back to Boston.