ZIMBABWE
A local engineering firm has developed an energy-efficient twin-turbo tobacco curing barn that is set to cut energy bills for tobacco farmers and reduce the impact on the environment.
The Twin-Turbo Barn by Mamsen Engineering was successfully tested at Kutsaga Research Station run by the Tobacco Research Board. The barn’s innovative technology has been certified as a next-generation energy-saving sustainable tobacco curing system.
Dr Dahlia Garwe, TRB general manager, said the new energy-efficient curing barn could easily ensure the survival of Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry, which is under immense pressure to ensure smallholder farmers reduce the cutting down of trees used for curing processes.
Mamsen Engineering has successfully introduced the new tobacco barn in Mozambique and plans to introduce it to the entire SADC region. The technology is made up of a lightweight air-tight steel tube structure clad with IBR sheeting and insulated on the inner structure with ally cushion for a reduction in thermal inertia.
Mamsen Engineering’s Hanif Mahomed said the Twin-Turbo Barn allows the tobacco farmer to cure their tobacco using coal without the use of an electrical or solar-powered fan for combustion with fuel efficiencies in the range of 0.85 kg coal per kilogramme of cured tobacco. He also said the cheaper barn model is suitable for small-scale and communal farmers who can easily assemble it and operate using coal, sawdust, LP gas, and biofuels. Farmers can use alternative sources of fuel such as wheat stalks, maize stover, and hay to cure tobacco.