Abstract

MORENO CARDENAS, Edilson León; OLIVEROS TASCON, Carlos Eugenio  and  ALVAREZ MEJIA, Fernando. A Portable Device to Assist in the Harvest of Coffee in Colombia. Rev. Fac. Nac. Agron. Medellín [online]. 2015, vol.68, n.1, pp.7471-7479. ISSN 0304-2847.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rfnam.v68n1.47833.

The harvest is one of the most important activities in coffee crops; on the one hand, it provides employment opportunities for a large group of rural workers and on the other, it supplies mature fruits for the production of high quality coffee. In the present study, a device was designed and evaluated to assist in manual coffee harvesting, called Alfa, which employs a three-toothed blade beater, a DC motor powered by dry batteries and a system for receiving detached fruits. The research proceeded in two phases; in the first, the device was designed and built; in the second, an evaluation was carried out by using traditional manual collection as a comparison. The evaluations were developed in four locations: three experimental stations of Cenicafé and one private property. The variables studied were: number of fruits left on the ground after harvest, percentage of immature coffee in the harvested mass and yield. The device presented an operating time of four days without recharging, a weight less than four kg and an absence of technical failures; the operators had no problems with its use; and, in addition, it was possible to increase the yield of the operators by almost 70%; the percentage of immature coffee was between 4.5% and 3% and losses were between one and 19 fruits per site.

Keywords : Yield, quality; losses; ergonomic device; Rendimiento; calidad; pérdidas; dispositivo ergonómico.

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