DESIGN, FABRICATION AND EVALUATION OF A LOW COST SEED PLANTER FOR SMALL HOLDER FARMERS

Abstract

A manually-operated row crop seed planter was designed and fabricated to determine its performance. The planter was designed based on the planting concepts and ergonomic requirement of the operators. It was fabricated using locally available m aterial; it consists of the hopper as the seed storage box; seed plates for seed metering; a tine type furrow opener for soil opening and a hoe type coverer. The laboratory investigation comprised the determination of weight of seed discharged from the hopper, percentage damage of seeds, and average inter-row spacing of seeds. The field tests included the determination of effective field capacity, field efficiency, average depth of placement of seeds in the furrows, and spacing of seeds within row. A reduction in percentage damage of 2.58% was obtained with spacing of 50.2 cm and average depth of 4.28 cm. The planter had an overall field capacity of 0.36 ha/hr and efficiency of 71%. The machine can be easily adjusted and maneuvered in the field to suit the technical knowhow of small holder farmers. It was also able to meet adequately the need of various heights of operators. It was recommended that only properly cleansed seeds be used with this planter. The total cost of the planter was twenty four thousand, eight hundred and seventy naira (N24, 870.00) an equivalent of about 155 U.S Dollars. It was recommended for the usage of small holder farmers.