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TECHNICAL NOTE

Strategies to Advance in Helping the

Coffee-culture Profitability

T The National Federation of Coffee Grow- fruits by vibration) and meshes extended on the

ers of Colombia, throughout its Research
ground while harvesting, will be a great help to the
Center - Cenicafé, advances in the search
of new technologies for coffee harvest- coffee pickers. The yield will be two or three times
more than the obtained by a single coffee picker
ing, because of the high cost of this work and the using the traditional reservoir, depending upon the
probably lack of hand labor, especially during the coffee plot and the concentration of the crop. This
harvesting seasons. fact will have positive effect on the production costs
The objective of the Technical Chief Office is to and profitability of the coffee business. However, the
develop strategies for the coffee harvesting, which in selectivity of the mechanical methods continues into
2017 reached more than 6,000 million of kilograms of study because it is a great scientific challenge to reach
coffee fruits, to be not 100% manual but “aided” and the selectivity of the human hand.
suited for the fruit ripening, topography and weather The manual harvesting aided by meshes extend-
prevalent in the regions of Colombia. ed on the ground is a tangible reality. Cenicafé has
Therefore, the research developed at Cenicafé has concrete data in which the picker’s efficiency is
two main objectives: to make easier the harvesting higher and sometimes doubles the obtained with the
labor, which represents around 45% of the total pro- traditional method. The Meshes are made of Saran®,
duction costs, and rise the efficiency of the labour a mesh with 45% of shading made of fibers of a very
commited with coffee. To meet the goals, the research resistant plastic (PVC), which include fastening tape
have studied the performance of different mechanical Velcro® in all its four ends in order to reach total
devices in detaching ripe coffee fruits and the plastic coverture underneath the trees, when fastened to
meshes on the ground to receive the lying down fruits. other mesh with the trees in between. The dimen-
Researchers and coffee growers agree on that sions that better fit manual harvesting in all type of
the use of devices (motorized equipment that detach terrain are 3 meters of width and 10 to 15 meters of

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