Under the JICA Follow-Up Project, spearheaded by the Agricultural Mechanization Advisor to the Engineering Secretary and the Centre Manager, ATDC Siakago, the station is a beneficiary of a select project geared towards promoting agricultural mechanization in the country. In this regard, several machinery and equipment have been supplied to the station. One of these is a power tiller, that comes with several accessories namely, a reaper, tiller box, rotary plough, sickle bar mower, plough and a furrower. In conjunction with JICA, the station held a demo on 15th November 2023, on the aforementioned targeting service providers within the Mbeere-North region. The power tiller had been supplied by Protech Industrial Equipment, the sole distributor of Honda Power Products in Kenya.
1. Objectives
1. To conduct demonstrations on mechanized ploughing, levelling and reaping using the power tiller.
2. To promote mechanized agricultural operations using the power tiller.
2. Composition
The session was fairly well attended drawing a varied composition ranging from seasoned service providers, to those wishing to venture into the enterprise. Others present included farmers and local artisans. An attendance list of those present is attached herein as Appendix 1.
3. Training session
The training session covered the following areas namely; machine operation, on-farm demonstration & maintenance. This exercise was jointly carried out by the ATDC Siakago staff and the technician from ProTech Industrial Equipment Ltd.
Attendees were inducted on machine operation, the various control levers available, accessory hitching and operation. This session drew great interest from members who got an opportunity to experience the operation of the machine. The field operations carried out included, reaping of grass, ploughing using the rotatory plough & also the tiller box.
4. Discussions & Recommendations.
During the plenary session, attendees raised a number of pertinent issues regarding the machine namely on technical aspects, cost and after-sales services:
a) Technical aspects.
The service providers were specifically interested in the fuel consumption per acre, area covered per working day, suitability for Conservation Agriculture (CA), and number /types of accessories.
The ProTech Technician reported that the machine has a fuel consumption of 0.8 l/hr., a diesel engine with a rated output power of 10Hp and that the machine when doing tillage in ideal conditions, can achieve an area of 1 ½ acres per day with a single operator. It was instructive to note that owing to field conditions this parameter may slightly vary. Factors such as operator skill, slope, condition of the soil etcetera have a great influence on this. For the reaper, the data on the acreage covered per day was unavailable.
The service providers also enquired on whether there is a ripper which comes with the tiller as an accessory. This would be especially suitable for those engaged in CA. The technician from the Supplier informed the service providers that the ripper was available.
b) Cost & After Sales Services.
The attendees made a query regarding the cost of the power tiller and were informed that it cost KSH 189,000 without the attachments which come at an additional cost. The total procurement price about KES430,000. The Supplier’s technician assured the service providers that they offer a warranty period of six months and that this covers only the engine. The spare parts were readily available from the supplier. The power tiller also comes with a set of spare parts at no additional cost. In addition, the service providers were informed that the supplier does on-farm demos to interested parties before any purchases are made. On the costs of the attachments, a product catalogue from the supplier will be shared to any interested.
The station will endeavor to conduct more demos on agricultural mechanization in the region and beyond. Several demos will be slotted in future targeting more service providers. This ultimately serves to promote mechanized agriculture not only in the region but nationally owing to the superior advantages it offers such as timely operations, enhanced efficiency and cost reduction in the long run. The station shall also undertake validation tests to ascertain missing data regarding the reaper.