Rotary District 7730

Uganda Peanut Sheller Project


Description of a Joint Project between the Rotary Clubs of Uganda and the Rotary Clubs of District 7730, Eastern North Carolina, USA (and any other interested Rotary Club….)

Project Description: Build and distribute Peanut Shelling Machines and Grain Grinding machines to the residents of villages in Uganda. Every day in Uganda millions of women and children spend time shelling peanuts by hand to feed their families — time desperately needed for many other activities. Shelling peanuts is a labor intensive, manually difficult job necessary to consume a valuable crop. Peanuts are high in protein, easy to grow, provide groundcover that reduces erosion, improve the soil by fixing nitrogen in it, can be processed into flour, paste or oil, and can be both eaten and sold.

A revolutionary new, simple, concrete and metal Peanut Shelling Machine has been developed that enables women to shell nuts faster and with less energy. This is a time and labor saving, appropriate technology agricultural device that is inexpensive, indestructible and easy to use. This project is a partnership between participating Rotary Clubs and The Full Belly Project, a 501 3 (C) non-profit organization.

See them at Website: www.fullbellyproject.org

In this initial pilot project only 20 Ugandan Clubs will be able to participate.

The project will have the following results:

1. For every club in Uganda that participates, a craftsman (or two) will be trained to fabricate peanut shelling machines. These men or women learn a new job skill.
2. Each participating Ugandan club places a minimum of 5 machines in different villages.
3. Each machine placed will allow a large group of women to feed their families with less effort and less time.
4. The women of these villages will have a greater opportunity and incentive to grow more peanuts for consumption and sale.
5. Each placed peanut shelling machine will be accompanied by a manually operated grain grinding machine, further enabling women to save time and process nuts and other grains to a greater extent for consumption and/or sale.

Responsibilities of Ugandan Rotary Clubs: Each Ugandan club interested in participating in this group project will do the following:

1. Identify one or two people to be trained to build the machines. Provide for their expenses for a two day training in Kampala in March, ‘06.
2. Raise $200. This will pay for cement and wood stands for 5 peanut shelling machines.
3. Identify 5 villages to place the finished machines in and communicate with village leaders and/or women’s groups to prepare them for receiving the machine.
4. Furnish transportation and logistics for delivering machines, and demonstrate and train villagers in their use.

Responsibilities of US Rotary Clubs: Rotary Clubs of District 7730 will provide a minimum of $20,000 in funding to be matched dollar for dollar by the Rotary Foundation to equal $40,000 to support this project:

These funds will pay for the purchase of:

1. A $500 set of fiberglass molds for each participating Ugandan club.
2. 5 sets of metal kits for each Ugandan club.
3. The shipping expenses for a 20’ container from North Carolina to Kampala to ship molds and metal pieces
4. Import duties and clearing charges, if any.
5. Training expenses for the craftsmen to be trained in Kampala to build the machines.
6. The purchase of a manually operated grain grinding machine, currently made in Uganda, to be distributed with each peanut shelling machine.

It is anticipated that once the first 5 metal kits have been used by each club, additional metal kits will be able to be purchased locally in Kampala so that the project can continue.