The concept of using timber as an important component of a rasper/grater is not new. Wooden drum graters do already exist in West-Africa (Ghana), Latin America and South East Asia.
This model was found in Ghana; used with metal hack saw blades.

The advantages are of using timber are obvious:: wood does not rust due to the acid cassava liquid and is easy to use by local artisans/manufacures.

ESARC started constructing and testing of a wooden drum grater after a short study tour to Vietnam March 1998. Around Hanoi the team found various diesel driven wooden drum graters all in use by singel families for processing fresh cassava into starch. The Vietnamese model is based on a wooden log, caved and shaped in a nice round drum and located on a metal shaft with bearings.

To obtain its rasping/grating effect the Vietnamese use short metal pins cut out of a multi-core electric wire. The short 1.5 -2 cm long pins are nailed in the wooden drum in lines (see middle picture)

All the Vietnamese grater are powered by chinese builtl water cooled diesel engines (8-12 HP). Similar diesel engines are now available in Dar es Salaam for 370 US$ (April 2001).

The Postharvest Research team in Hanoi was involved in modifying the local cassava processing equipment and developed a new model: ligher and easier to construct.

Back in Uganda the team started building graters using the concept developed by the

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