The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the l... more The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the like-minded farmers with commonality in the farming practices by sharing resources at a reduced cost to individual farmers. The aim of this study is to asses technical evaluation of harvest and post-harvest custom hire service in major tef, wheat and barley growing areas of Ethiopia. This assessment was carried out on the potential areas of agricultural machinery custom hire service users and providers. The educational status is varying across the woredas and it has a direct relation with the use of custom hiring services. Most of the time the machines are giving a service relocating from place to place based on request of the farmers. The rate of custom hiring of the farm machines varies seasonally and from place to place. Lack of availability of machinery in time was major constraints. The service has varied challenges and has no well-established support from the government. There is no specific policies and specific guidelines, laws, rules and regulations that guide custom-hiring mechanisms in the country. Farmers very strongly wish to receive custom-hiring services in a timely manner due to lack of service providers and adequate numbers of machines.
Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the... more Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the late 1990s. Cognizant of the existing production potential, growing import demand, and prospects for ensuring food security, the number of actors posed due emphasis to enhance the rice value chain. The research aims to document the current farm power uses, farmers' mechanization needs, and awareness about the application of mechanical power.
Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the... more Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the late 1990s. Cognizant of the existing production potential, growing import demand, and prospects for ensuring food security, the number of actors posed due emphasis to enhance the rice value chain. The research aims to document the current farm power uses, farmers' mechanization needs, and awareness about the application of mechanical power.
The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the l... more The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the like-minded farmers with commonality in the farming practices by sharing resources at a reduced cost to individual farmers. The aim of this study is to asses technical evaluation of harvest and post-harvest custom hire service in major tef, wheat and barley growing areas of Ethiopia. This assessment was carried out on the potential areas of agricultural machinery custom hire service users and providers. The educational status is varying across the woredas and it has a direct relation with the use of custom hiring services. Most of the time the machines are giving a service relocating from place to place based on request of the farmers. The rate of custom hiring of the farm machines varies seasonally and from place to place. Lack of availability of machinery in time was major constraints. The service has varied challenges and has no well-established support from the government. There is no...
Mango pulp extraction is a process of crushing and scraping of whole fruit in order to separate t... more Mango pulp extraction is a process of crushing and scraping of whole fruit in order to separate the juice from fruits pulp. The essence of processing the fruit using this machine can easily help to store, preserve, package, transport or consume the product by adding value with high quality juice and reduce the postharvest loss. The aim of this study was to conduct a performance evaluation of the small-scale mango juice pulp extractor. The operation of the pulper was the screw conveyor conveys and the screw blade impacted the mango fruits against a drum perforated on the inside. The extracted juice was drained through the perforated mesh of the juice channel into the juice outlet from where it is collected while the residual waste is collected at the waste outlet. The operating factors considered during the evaluation were feed rate and the extracting retention time. The machine was tested using freshly harvested mango fruits and results obtained an average extracted capacity, extrac...
Proceeding of the National Conference on Completed Agricultural Economics Research Activities, June 2019, Dec 2020
Ethiopia has substantial land and suitable agro-ecologies for production of the rice crop both in... more Ethiopia has substantial land and suitable agro-ecologies for production of the rice crop both in the upland and in the irrigated systems. Cognizant of the existing production potential, growing import demand, and prospects for ensuring food security, the number of actors posed due emphasis to hasten the rice value chain. The centerpiece of this research is to apprehend the current farm power uses, farmers' mechanization needs, and awareness about the application of mechanical power. Time series data indicates that rice production has doubled through the past decade analogous to the area devoted to the crop. A household survey and focus group discussions inform that only 2% of the farmers use tractors for land preparation and 22.7% have access to rice polishing facilities. The market participation rate for the rice farmers is 93%, however, the majority is selling paddy rice and their average income and gross returns are relatively lower. Weeding activity took the highest farm labor power, estimated as 175 labor-days and comprising 66% of the total labor. For 75% of the households, the accomplishment of first-time weeding required the involvement of female labor. Moreover, rural networks have important contributions that a proportion of 42% of households rely on shared labor for harvesting operations. The conducted tests confirm that the land-labor ratio is significantly larger for farmers that use tractor power. Rice processing, harvesting and threshing, tractor ploughing, and weeding remain to be priority operations for which mechanical power is needed most. The study suggests the need for introducing mechanisms to address unmet mechanization demand and interlinked supports that facilitate the effective functioning of the system.
Academic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Research , 2017
Wheat is one of the leading food crops in Ethiopia. The small power operated walking tractors are... more Wheat is one of the leading food crops in Ethiopia. The small power operated walking tractors are being used by farmers for various farm operations. The developed walking tractor drawn wheat planter was tested in the laboratory and field. The seed rate was calibrated and observed that 112 kg/ha with a 4.5 mm cups depth adjustment which is laying in the acceptable range of 100 to 125 kg/ha. There was no visible damage observed. The preliminary test conducted at speed of 1.4, 2 and 2.5 km/h speed shows good seed rate but 2.5 km/h speed gave better operation result than other operating speeds. 350 to 372 plants population per 1.2 m 2 area were observed during field germination count. The theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity and field efficiency of the machine were 0.30 ha/hr., 0.23 ha/hr. and 77.91 % respectively. The performance of walking tractor drawn six-row wheat drill was good for working in the well-prepared seedbed for sowing.
The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the l... more The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the like-minded farmers with commonality in the farming practices by sharing resources at a reduced cost to individual farmers. The aim of this study is to asses technical evaluation of harvest and post-harvest custom hire service in major tef, wheat and barley growing areas of Ethiopia. This assessment was carried out on the potential areas of agricultural machinery custom hire service users and providers. The educational status is varying across the woredas and it has a direct relation with the use of custom hiring services. Most of the time the machines are giving a service relocating from place to place based on request of the farmers. The rate of custom hiring of the farm machines varies seasonally and from place to place. Lack of availability of machinery in time was major constraints. The service has varied challenges and has no well-established support from the government. There is no specific policies and specific guidelines, laws, rules and regulations that guide custom-hiring mechanisms in the country. Farmers very strongly wish to receive custom-hiring services in a timely manner due to lack of service providers and adequate numbers of machines.
Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the... more Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the late 1990s. Cognizant of the existing production potential, growing import demand, and prospects for ensuring food security, the number of actors posed due emphasis to enhance the rice value chain. The research aims to document the current farm power uses, farmers' mechanization needs, and awareness about the application of mechanical power.
Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the... more Rice is a new crop to Ethiopia and substantial production of the crop has been started during the late 1990s. Cognizant of the existing production potential, growing import demand, and prospects for ensuring food security, the number of actors posed due emphasis to enhance the rice value chain. The research aims to document the current farm power uses, farmers' mechanization needs, and awareness about the application of mechanical power.
The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the l... more The concept of custom hiring facilitates the adoption of improved resource management among the like-minded farmers with commonality in the farming practices by sharing resources at a reduced cost to individual farmers. The aim of this study is to asses technical evaluation of harvest and post-harvest custom hire service in major tef, wheat and barley growing areas of Ethiopia. This assessment was carried out on the potential areas of agricultural machinery custom hire service users and providers. The educational status is varying across the woredas and it has a direct relation with the use of custom hiring services. Most of the time the machines are giving a service relocating from place to place based on request of the farmers. The rate of custom hiring of the farm machines varies seasonally and from place to place. Lack of availability of machinery in time was major constraints. The service has varied challenges and has no well-established support from the government. There is no...
Mango pulp extraction is a process of crushing and scraping of whole fruit in order to separate t... more Mango pulp extraction is a process of crushing and scraping of whole fruit in order to separate the juice from fruits pulp. The essence of processing the fruit using this machine can easily help to store, preserve, package, transport or consume the product by adding value with high quality juice and reduce the postharvest loss. The aim of this study was to conduct a performance evaluation of the small-scale mango juice pulp extractor. The operation of the pulper was the screw conveyor conveys and the screw blade impacted the mango fruits against a drum perforated on the inside. The extracted juice was drained through the perforated mesh of the juice channel into the juice outlet from where it is collected while the residual waste is collected at the waste outlet. The operating factors considered during the evaluation were feed rate and the extracting retention time. The machine was tested using freshly harvested mango fruits and results obtained an average extracted capacity, extrac...
Proceeding of the National Conference on Completed Agricultural Economics Research Activities, June 2019, Dec 2020
Ethiopia has substantial land and suitable agro-ecologies for production of the rice crop both in... more Ethiopia has substantial land and suitable agro-ecologies for production of the rice crop both in the upland and in the irrigated systems. Cognizant of the existing production potential, growing import demand, and prospects for ensuring food security, the number of actors posed due emphasis to hasten the rice value chain. The centerpiece of this research is to apprehend the current farm power uses, farmers' mechanization needs, and awareness about the application of mechanical power. Time series data indicates that rice production has doubled through the past decade analogous to the area devoted to the crop. A household survey and focus group discussions inform that only 2% of the farmers use tractors for land preparation and 22.7% have access to rice polishing facilities. The market participation rate for the rice farmers is 93%, however, the majority is selling paddy rice and their average income and gross returns are relatively lower. Weeding activity took the highest farm labor power, estimated as 175 labor-days and comprising 66% of the total labor. For 75% of the households, the accomplishment of first-time weeding required the involvement of female labor. Moreover, rural networks have important contributions that a proportion of 42% of households rely on shared labor for harvesting operations. The conducted tests confirm that the land-labor ratio is significantly larger for farmers that use tractor power. Rice processing, harvesting and threshing, tractor ploughing, and weeding remain to be priority operations for which mechanical power is needed most. The study suggests the need for introducing mechanisms to address unmet mechanization demand and interlinked supports that facilitate the effective functioning of the system.
Academic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Research , 2017
Wheat is one of the leading food crops in Ethiopia. The small power operated walking tractors are... more Wheat is one of the leading food crops in Ethiopia. The small power operated walking tractors are being used by farmers for various farm operations. The developed walking tractor drawn wheat planter was tested in the laboratory and field. The seed rate was calibrated and observed that 112 kg/ha with a 4.5 mm cups depth adjustment which is laying in the acceptable range of 100 to 125 kg/ha. There was no visible damage observed. The preliminary test conducted at speed of 1.4, 2 and 2.5 km/h speed shows good seed rate but 2.5 km/h speed gave better operation result than other operating speeds. 350 to 372 plants population per 1.2 m 2 area were observed during field germination count. The theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity and field efficiency of the machine were 0.30 ha/hr., 0.23 ha/hr. and 77.91 % respectively. The performance of walking tractor drawn six-row wheat drill was good for working in the well-prepared seedbed for sowing.
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