Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) egg farms in Indonesia have challenges in optimizing and working efficiency. The average worker takes 2–3 hours per day to harvest the eggs, count the number, and weigh the total weight of the eggs. The many stages handled result in reduced farmer productivity. Each person is only able to handle a population of 3,000–4,000 individuals. This figure is far below the average productivity of laying hen breeders in competing countries, such as China, America, and India.
This condition made a team of lecturers and researchers from the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (DTMM FTUI) design an automatic egg sorting tool that can process 6,000 eggs per hour or twice as many as the conventional method. This FTUI production tool is smaller in size than similar equipment produced overseas and is priced at an affordable price, which is Rp. 30,000,000.00. The making of this tool was realized thanks to community service (pengmas) which was funded by the Kedaireka Batch 3 Matching Fund Program in 2022.
“Alhamdulillah, the activity initiated by the FTUI Team succeeded in becoming 1 of the 12 community service organizations that were approved in the Kedaireka Program. We see that the condition of MSME egg farmers in the field is still labor-intensive. Therefore, together with the Edu Farmers International Foundation, we designed this tool to increase the productivity of MSME chicken egg farmers and increase the value of chicken eggs produced with an automatic labeling scheme,” said Dr. Jaka Fajar Fatriansyah, M.Sc., IPM. as the Head of the FTUI DTMM Community Service Team.
This automatic egg counter works by sorting eggs based on their weight using the magnetic principle. This tool can sort eggs with three different grades. Automatic egg sorting is expected to help MSME egg farmers in Indonesia increase productivity and increase the selling value of eggs based on the grade of eggs sorted.
“Hopefully the innovations of the FTUI DTMM Community Service Team can improve the welfare of breeders through skills, technological innovation, and empowerment. It is time for the Indonesian livestock industry to adopt technology to increase productivity. This innovation is also expected to build the enthusiasm of the younger generation for the world of Indonesian agriculture in the future,” said the Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU.
This automatic egg counter was tested at Agrova Farm Animal Husbandry, Rumpin District, Bogor Regency, West Java, in December 2022. This trial was conducted to see the condition of the equipment in the field and to get input from potential users/customers, namely Agrova Farm. Also present at the activity, the Head of the FTUI DTMM Community Service Team together with the members, namely Muhammad
Joshua YB, Agrin F Pradana, Fernanda H., and Andreas F., M. Riza; a representative from the Edu Farmers International Foundation, Ignatius Egan; Agrova Farm Field Supervisor, A. Ilyadi; as well as Agrova Farm breeders, especially those in the egg sorting and packing department.
“This FTUI Community Service Team’s innovative automatic egg grading and chopping tool is a local product that is not yet widely available in the market. Previously, if breeders wanted an egg chopper, on average they had to import it and it was expensive, and difficult for MSME breeders to afford. We think that the results of this FTUI innovation can fill the gaps in the market,” said Ignatius.
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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia