The machine was originally developed for carrots, a high-value cash crop from Benguet and Mountain Province, until its designers realized it could clean most root crops, according to Rodolfo Estigoy, chief of Philmech’s research unit.
The prototype of the machine could wash up to three tons of carrots and other root crops in an hour. The crops are delivered to a rotating chamber by a conveyor belt where the vegetables are brushed and sluiced with warm water.
Rex Bingabing, Philmech executive director, said it takes 50 hours of manual labor for eight people to clean a ton of carrots. The machine could do this with only three operators using only half a liter of water to wash a kilogram of root crops.
Philmech built two carrot washer prototypes worth P1 million each. “Our patent application is now being processed, so we were able to launch the carrot washer,” Estigoy said.
