Hajjah: A campaign for seed purification via mechanical sifting was held in Abs Market at Suq Al-Ahad in Hajjah governorate to raise the efficiency of agricultural production. The service aims to distinguish healthy grains, eliminate damaged and pest-infested seeds, and remove impurities that draw away irrigation resources and compete with crops.
According to Yemen News Agency, this technology, supervised by the Abs Cooperative Association, provides several gains: raising germination rates by guaranteeing the growth of uniform plants that are resistant to climate changes, reducing costs by allowing farmers access to sifting equipment in weekly markets to alleviate financial and geographical burdens, and increasing productivity by doubling the final yield volume and its quality by excluding disease-carrying seeds prior to planting.
Suq Al-Ahad in the Abs district of Hajjah governorate witnessed a large turnout of farmers benefiting from the seed sifting and purification service provided by the Abs Agricultural Cooperative Association. This initiative is aimed at improving seed quality and raising agricultural production efficiency. The service constitutes the first line of defense and the most important technical pillar for improving crop quality. It creates a fundamental difference between exhausting traditional practices and modern production outputs and will serve as the cornerstone for a vertical increase in national crop production.
This technology works to completely rid seeds of weak and damaged grains, clinging dust, and harmful weed seeds that compete with the original crop for nutrients and drain irrigation water. It also plays a direct role in excluding seeds carrying pests and fungal diseases. This precise sorting directly reflects on maximizing germination rates to their limit and ensuring the growth of uniform, strong plants that withstand changing climatic conditions, thereby reducing agricultural waste, doubling the final harvest volume, and improving its quality.
Faced with the strategic importance of the purification process, Abs Cooperative Association was keen to break the dual barriers of financial cost and geographical distance by transporting sifting machines directly to the heart of weekly markets and organizing periodic visits to various sub-districts and villages. This field initiative aims to establish an agricultural culture built on the awareness that crop quality always begins with sifting the seed before planting it in the soil, while working to ease economic burdens and preparation costs off the shoulders of farmers under current circumstances.
The association called upon the remaining farmers across various regions and districts of Hajjah to head toward available sifting points and take advantage of this direct technical opportunity, emphasizing that investing in preparing and sifting seeds according to proper practices is the real guarantee for raising input efficiency and increasing yield within the same unit area.
On the operational mechanism level, the precision of the technical outputs of the modern sifting machine stands out as grains flow smoothly and with high purity into designated packaging bags. These machines work to process seeds and filter them precisely from impurities, dust, and weak grains, ensuring uniform seeds free of contaminants and pests, which forms the fundamental pillar for raising germination rates and guaranteeing strong crop growth in the fields.
Modern sifters designated for sorting and purifying seeds and grains contain multiple pathways and white metal discharge outlets equipped with manual control handles. The purified seeds stream regularly through these chutes to fall directly into large bags secured to the bottom of the machine by orange iron frame structures. The machine sorts the seeds into four categories: healthy, strong, and uniform seeds designated for planting in the upcoming season; less efficient seeds; a third category of weak seeds used as livestock feed; and a fourth category consisting of impurities that are disposed of. Seed sifting is considered one of the most critical pre-planting operations due to its role in producing seeds of higher quality and purity, boosting their vitality and germination capability, and helping eliminate infected or broken seeds that might transmit diseases and pests to the fields.