Iranian Experts Develop ‘Hand-Held’ Combine Machine for Herbal Plants Industry
“The device weighs 1.5kg and it has a harvesting head and a collection tank and the speed of the cutting head can be changed manually,” said Gholamreza Naderi, a faculty member and the coordinator of the National Medicinal Plants Plan of the Islamic Azad University.
He added that the hand-held combine is made of aluminum with a steel sheet and the head blades of the machine are replaceable, noting that the machine can also be installed on a light chassis and wheels in flat and wide lands.
Naderi said that the versions two and three of the hand-held combine are being designed, adding, “A small engine is designed on the new version of the device to increase efficiency which is charged with a dynamo connected to the head belt, and when the user becomes tired, he/she can use engine power to rotate the head.”
He said that a GPS can be installed in the third version of the machine to record the location and time of harvesting the product, adding that a digital scale is also installed to measure the weight of the harvested product.
Iran is a privileged country with a high rank in plant biodiversity, including 11 of the 13 globally known climates. According to botanists and researchers, there are about 8,000 medicinal plants species, which is at least twice the European continent's species diversity.
Studies have shown that over 2,300 plant species in the country have medicinal and aromatic properties and could be as spices and cosmetics. The high diversity of medicinal plants in Iran has made traders to export these products.
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