Wheat Drying in Nigeria

1.Project Background

The client is a medium-sized agricultural cooperative in Kano State, northern Nigeria. This region is a major wheat-producing area in Nigeria, but the cooperative members have long faced a severe challenge: the wheat harvest coincides with the end of the rainy season. High humidity makes traditional drying methods extremely inefficient and easily leads to wheat mold and sprouting, resulting in significant post-harvest losses. According to Ola, the cooperative’s head, their wheat losses have previously been as high as 15%-20% due to untimely drying. This not only directly impacts farmers’ income but also hinders the cooperative’s expansion and reproduction. They urgently need an efficient, cost-effective drying solution that adapts to local conditions.

2.Client Requirements

Efficient drying and loss reduction: The solution must be able to quickly reduce high-moisture wheat to safe storage standards (below 13%) to prevent mold.

Fuel adaptability: Nigeria’s electricity supply is unstable, but coal and firewood are relatively abundant and inexpensive. The equipment must be able to reliably operate on both fuels.

Mobility and Flexibility: The cooperative’s service area covers multiple villages, requiring equipment that can be easily moved to different drying yards or warehouses to reduce grain transportation costs.

Easy Operation and Maintenance: Due to the lack of highly skilled local workers, the equipment must be easy to learn and operate, and repair and maintenance must not be overly complex.

Cost Control: The investment must be within the cooperative’s budget and recoupable within a reasonable timeframe by minimizing losses.

3.Solution

After extensive research, the cooperative ultimately ordered a 5-ton, portable, coal-fired, dual-use circulating grain dryer from our company.

This solution perfectly addressed all of the customer’s pain points:

Targeted Design:

Heat Source: A highly efficient coal-fired dual-use hot air furnace serves as the core. Firewood can be used when it’s readily available, while coal can be switched to when more sustained, stable heat is required. This design ensures uninterrupted production in all conditions.

Mobility: The dryer and hot air furnace are mounted on a sturdy trailer chassis and can be easily towed by common tractors or trucks, realizing the concept of “drying service right to the field.”

Drying Quality: Utilizing low-temperature circulation drying technology and a multi-layered slow-heating process, this ensures uniform heating of the wheat during drying, preventing cracking due to excessive temperatures and maximizing the germination rate and nutritional quality of the wheat.

Ease of Operation: Featuring a moderate degree of automation, the dryer is equipped with an intuitive temperature gauge and a simple control system. After three days of on-site training by our engineers, ordinary cooperative employees can independently perform operation and routine maintenance.

4.Customer Feedback

Drying Results: The equipment was immediately put into use during the upcoming wheat harvest season. Test data demonstrates:

Efficiency: A batch of 5 tons of wheat with an initial moisture content of 18% was dried to a safe moisture content of 12.5% ​​in approximately 5 hours (depending on weather conditions), significantly exceeding the efficiency of traditional air drying, which takes 3-5 days and produces inconsistent results.

Quality: The dried wheat is golden in color, with uniform grains and no signs of burnt or mold. Local quality inspection authorities have confirmed a germination rate of over 95%, fully meeting the standards for high-quality commercial grain.

Cost: The fuel (coal/firewood) cost of drying one ton of wheat is far less than the losses caused by mold, resulting in significant economic benefits.

Mr. Ola, head of the cooperative, excitedly stated, “This machine has completely changed the way we work. We used to depend on the weather for our livelihoods, but now we have control over our harvest. It has not only saved us at least 15% of our losses, but more importantly, the quality of our dried wheat is better, resulting in a higher market price. Its portability is invaluable to us!”

This small, portable dryer not only helps Nigerian farmers preserve the fruits of their hard work but also strengthens their ability to cope with natural risks, injecting tangible momentum into local food security and agricultural modernization. Jinlu Machinery will continue to deepen its presence in the drying industry and contribute to grain drying in Africa.