Productivity of Melon Shelling Technology and Preference by Rural Women in Nigeria

Few years ago National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) launched melon sheller to reduce burden of obtaining melon oil and cake, and to enhance rural women's productivity. This study looked at the productivity of promoted melon shelling technology and preference by rural women in Nigeria. Data were gathered from the NCAM workshop and survey of melon processors in Niger State. In the workshop, it was found that time allowed for soaking melon and covering with piece of clothes contributed to the productivity of the sheller. Results from survey revealed that 95.1% of the respondents' preferred Internal Combustion technology and 90.2% liked electric-driven melon shellers over the manual one. Also, 69.5% obtained the shellers from local fabricators rather than NCAM. The technology led to increased turnout of melon (378kg/hr) and reduced wastages to 1.26kg out of 75.6kg. The study concluded that the promoted melon sheller is efficient and have positive implication on the rural women's productivity and revenue. The study recommends that the rural women should put the melon sheller into its maximum capacity use. The NCAM should extend training to the local fabricators so that they can improve on the technology most especially in the areas of winnowing and washing of melon kernels.