CHINCHINÁ, Caldas – The result of several years of study and rigorous tests and trials in different coffee areas of the country, the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), through its scientific arm, the National Coffee Research Center (Cenicafé), officially launched, before a group of over 300 coffee growers from all over the country, the Brudden DSC-18 harvester, which optimizes coffee harvesting substantially.
This technological development, a milestone in the world coffee sector, is the result of the tireless work by the FNC to reduce harvesting costs, require less labor and thus improve profitability of producers.
Based on preliminary calculations and rigorous measurements, including time optimization, with the Brudden DSC-18 harvester the coffee grower can pick on average 50% more coffee than by the traditional method of “cocos (round containers),” meaning lower costs per kilogram of coffee cherries picked. This increase varies depending on the operator’s skills.
Requiring less labor, something key especially in scarcity times, is a great advantage of the harvester for the producer.
Like with the use of nets on the ground recently launched, the innovative harvesting methods put at the service of coffee producers by Cenicafé require new practices and work culture to make the most of them, including retention of harvesting days and pickers’ teamwork.
Science and technology for the benefit of producers
The Brudden DSC-18 harvester is the result of joint work of the Cenicafé scientific team, especially the post-harvest discipline (dedicated for years to optimizing harvesting methods), and Brazil’s Brudden team, with over 35 years of experience in manufacture of agricultural equipment of the highest level.
In the last two years, members of Cenicafé and Brudden devoted hours of work, trial and error, and adaptations to the Colombian topography and the physiology of the Arabica coffee plant, until delivering an optimum device that will reduce coffee production costs, labor being the most important variable.
The approximate cost of the new equipment is COP 1,600,000 and it will initially be offered through the Agrocafé chain. Taking into account the lifecycle of the equipment, labor savings and lower harvesting costs will amply compensate the initial investment made by the coffee grower.
Nets on the ground and harvester multiply picking volume
In the same line of reducing production costs and increasing profitability of coffee growers, in August the FNC launched another of innovation developed by Cenicafé, the nets on the ground, which increase coffee harvesting between 23% and 45%.
In Colombian coffee farming (whose origins go back over 200 years), the most used tool to pick coffee has been the “cocos (round containers),” but shortage in labor and the need to improve profitability of producers led Cenicafé to also orient its research in this direction.
