Mahangu threshers causing serious injuries

BY MARX ITAMALO

SEVERAL people have sustained serious injuries with some having their limbs amputated due to injuries caused by motorised mahangu threshers.
The threshers are used to separate kernels from the head and the process also involves removing the chaff, which is carried out by winnowing to obtain a clean grain. The threshers have replaced the traditional method of separating mahangu grains from the head, whereby the head was thrashed with wooden sticks.

Confidente has gathered that in June, and at the beginning of this month, several people were admitted at local hospitals with varying degrees of injuries to their upper limbs especial arms as a result of injuries inflicted by threshers.
June, July and August are the traditional threshing months in northern Namibia and many farmers either use their own threshing machines or hire them from entrepreneurs to thresh their mahangu. Now it appears using these machines comes with its own consequences.

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