A Portable Device to Assist in the Harvest of Coffee in Colombia / Un Equipo Portatil para Asistir la Cosecha de Cafe en Colombia

The harvest is one of the most important activities in coffee crops; on the one hand, it provides employment opportunities for a large group of rural workers and on the other, it supplies mature fruits for the production of high quality coffee. In the present study, a device was designed and evaluated to assist in manual coffee harvesting, called Alfa, which employs a threetoothed blade beater, a DC motor powered by dry batteries and a system for receiving detached fruits. The research proceeded in two phases; in the first, the device was designed and built; in the second, an evaluation was carried out by using traditional manual collection as a comparison. The evaluations were developed in four locations: three experimental stations of Cenicafé and one private property. The variables studied were: number of fruits left on the ground after harvest, percentage of immature coffee in the harvested mass and yield. The device presented an operating time of four days without recharging, a weight less than four kg and an absence of technical failures; the operators had no problems with its use; and, in addition, it was possible to increase the yield of the operators by almost 70%; the percentage of immature coffee was between 4.5% and 3% and losses were between one and 19 fruits r site.