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The Full Belly Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to relieve hunger and create economic opportunities in developing countries through the design and distribution of labor saving, locally replicable agricultural devices.

Our machinery is intended to save labor at the village level, thus supporting its users to increase their efficiency and their income. In the developing world, women are the primary beneficiaries of our technology. Full Belly Project, through the assistance of third-party collaborations, has introduced appropriate technology in 17 countries and will expand its reach of operations into 3 more in 2008.

The Universal Nut Sheller (UNS) was originally developed to shell peanuts because there are approximately half a billion people in developing nations who rely on peanuts as their primary source of protein. However, the application of the UNS has been as varied as the countries to which it has been sent. In the Philippines and Guatemala, it’s used to husk dried coffee. In Uganda, it shells Jatropha seeds, which can go straight into a diesel engine after processing, with byproducts available as organic fertilizer and insecticide. And in Southern Sudan, a small women’s group harvesting shea, a lucrative crop for shea butter and oil, takes advantage of the UNS to bypass some of the postharvest processing and add value to the nut. In all cases, Full Belly’s low-tech solution means increased production, increased profits and better quality of life.

We envision a world where the people of rural communities in developing countries can live lives of abundance, awakening each morning to days of economic possibility and going to sleep each night with bellies that are full.

Make our mission, your mission!

Did You Know....

Dr. Tim Williams, head of the Groundnut CRSP, estimates "in Africa alone, women spend four billion hours annually hand shelling peanuts".

In Malawi, our Universal Nut Sheller was made for $28. One village shelled 30 tons of peanuts bringing them enough income to meet a USAID matching grant of $16,000 to drill a well. The village had never had potable water.

A recent economic impact study was performed by UNC students in Uganda. They found that 1 Universal Nut Sheller is capable of serving 731 households.

Sauri, Kenya- UN Millennium Village Project has 4 of our Universal Nut Shellers.

Before he won a Nobel Peace Prize, and before he was the 39th president of The United States, Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer! The Full Belly Project traveled to The Carter Center to demonstrate the Universal Nut Sheller. President Carter's comments? "That's great!"

Photos: copyright RexPixMedia