A rotating drum mechanism designed to separate rice grains from stalks faster, cleaner, and with far less physical effort — making post-harvest processing accessible for every smallholder farmer.
A simple, effective process designed to be understood and operated by any farmer — no technical expertise required.
The farmer feeds harvested rice stalks into the machine's intake opening.
A rotating drum gently beats the stalks, separating the grains from the straw.
Separated grains fall through a screen and are collected in a container below.
Empty straw is pushed out from a separate exit, keeping the process clean and organised.
After harvesting, the farmer feeds rice stalks directly into the machine's intake. The process is straightforward and requires no special preparation or pre-processing of the harvested crop.
The intake is designed to accommodate the natural size and volume of rice stalks as they come from the field, minimising any extra work for the farmer before threshing begins.
At the heart of the ThreshWorks machine is a rotating drum that gently but effectively beats the rice stalks. This separates the grains from the straw without crushing or damaging the grain — preserving quality and reducing loss.
The drum speed and beating action have been engineered specifically for Gambian rice varieties, ensuring the mechanism is suited to the crops farmers actually grow.
Once separated, grains fall through a built-in screen that filters out straw and debris, collecting only clean grain into a container below. This significantly reduces the manual sorting and cleaning work that typically follows threshing.
ThreshWorks isn't built in isolation. Every design decision is grounded in the real challenges, constraints, and needs of smallholder farming communities in The Gambia.
The machine is being designed with cost of production in mind from day one. ThreshWorks is also exploring cooperative ownership models and partnership subsidies so that even the most resource-limited farmers can access the technology.
No technical training required. The machine is designed to be operable in rural settings with minimal instruction — suitable for farmers of all ages and backgrounds, including women who make up a large portion of Gambia's agricultural workforce.
Manual threshing can take days. The ThreshWorks machine is expected to significantly reduce the time required to process a harvest, freeing farmers for other productive activities and reducing labour costs.
Traditional manual beating causes grains to scatter and be lost. The enclosed drum and screen mechanism ensures more of every harvest is captured, directly increasing the income available to farming families.
ThreshWorks is currently in the design and development phase. The prototype is being built using USET's engineering equipment, with support from UNDP and The People of Japan.
Field testing is planned for farming communities in CRR and WCR after the current development phase, ensuring the machine is validated in real conditions before wider deployment.
We are committed to transparency — sharing performance data and field results as they become available.
The rice thresher is just the beginning. ThreshWorks has a long-term vision to develop a range of practical agricultural machinery for smallholder farmers across The Gambia and West Africa.
Separating rice grains from stalks faster, cleaner, and with less physical labour — currently in prototype development.
ThreshWorks plans to expand into other post-harvest machinery to support a wider range of crops and farming needs across the region.
Beginning in The Gambia, ThreshWorks aims to bring affordable agricultural technology to smallholder farming communities across West Africa.
Whether you're an NGO, researcher, or institution — we'd love to hear from you.