Engineer develops golden kuhol crusher-grinder

With the crusher-grinder, golden apple snail or golden "kuhol" has value after all; it can be processed into golden "kuhol" feeds and meal for poultry, fish, and livestock.

Golden "kuhol" is an unwanted pest, destroying rice farms. Very few realize that this type of snail is a good source of protein for animal feeds and a potential source of income when processed into feeds and meal.

Engineer Marife Leonardo-Pesino of the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC) designed a mobile, compact machine that crushes and grinds golden "kuhol" into fine powdery form. The machine is made of steel. It has a rotor assembly with 36 swinging and rotating hammer blades that crush and grind the materials through a replaceable perforated screen. Through a conveyor, crushed and ground golden "kuhol" pass from the grinding chamber to the discharge trough. The machine is driven by a one-horsepower, three-phase electric motor through a single V-belt drive.

Test results showed that the machine could crush and grind 1,406 kilograms of fresh golden "kuhol" per hour at a rotor speed of 1,500 rpm. The crushing recovery was 99 percent and almost 100 percent crushing efficiency.  Similarly, grinding recovery was 99 percent and efficiency was 100 percent.

Pesino said an investment of P10,000 is needed to gain sufficient returns. Based on 2004 prices in Camarines Sur, the machine could generate a potential income of P251,462 to P615,272 from a hectare with a production 319,200 kilograms of golden "kuhol."  Return on investment ranges from 67—97 percent.  Investment can be recovered within one to one and a half years.

The manual method of crushing a 319,200 kilograms of fresh golden "kuhol" could only provide net returns of P95,520.

The project is being monitored by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

The golden "kuhol" crusher-grinder was designed and fabricated through a project implemented by CSSAC in partnership with Agro Tropics Industries, a private manufacturer of agricultural machines in Naga City, Camarines Sur. — Ofelia F. Domingo, S&T Media Service