Pepper growers have been opting for pepper grain separator machines nowadays as the machine has turned out to be quite handy.
Owing to the dearth of skilled labourers and high wages, machines have started replacing labourers in agriculture, with the recent one being the pepper grain separator.
The machine has been invented by Mahabaleshwara Bhat, who is himself an agriculturist from Kodapadavu near Vittal in Dakshina Kannada district.
The machine helps separate pepper grains without any mess. Already many growers are using the machine.
The machine has several advantages over the traditional method of separating the grains by human feet.
The traditional method takes a lot of time and also affected the quality of the grains, as ripe grains would be crushed when labourers stamped on them in the process of separating them, causing loss to growers.
The grain separator can be run on a 0.5 horsepower motor. About 150 to 200 kg of grains can be separated in an hour.
Family members of agriculturists themselves separate pepper grains using the machine as operating it is simple.