Promotion of Labour Saving Rice Mechanization Technologies in Rain-Fed Low Land and Irrigated Ecologies of Tanzania and Kenya

Rice farming has been conducted in both Tanzania and Kenya mostly under manual operations and has resultedin low outputs due to inefficient production methods. This has resulted into reduced acreage, low yields andlabour drudgery. To increase efficiency in agricultural production among small scale farmers, mechanization wasfound to be the main driving tool. Research on mechanizing rice production activities from land preparation tothreshing was conducted in irrigated and rain fed ecologies of Mbarali and Kyela respectively while in irrigatedsystem of Mvomero Morogoro only herbicide effectiveness in weeds control was assessed. Seed treatment wasassessed in irrigated ecology of Mwea, Kenya. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was employed indemonstration plots to assess different rice mechanization technologies. Ploughing and puddling using powertiller, oxen and hand hoe were determined in terms of man-days required. Direct rice seeding and transplantingusing a walk behind motorized planter and transplanter were also compared against hand seeding andtransplanting respectively. Research results indicated that there were significant differences (P < 0.05) for mostmechanized operations along the rice production value chain. In order for rice growing farmers to realize thebenefits accrued from mechanizing rice production, all levels of production should be mechanized. However forrice mechanization to be successful rice mechanization machines and implement should be subsidized to enablemajority of smallholder farmers to access them. Smallholder farmers need also to be mobilized into groups forease acquisition of rice machines and capacity building.Keywords: Puddling, Transplanting, Threshin

Evaluation of a modified multipurpose cassava processing machine for size reduction

The production of cassava (Manihot esculenta) is considered an important alternative to a reduction in food scarcity around the world. Kenya is rapidly gaining prominence due to the declining production of staple foods, especially maize and wheat. Though still considered a poor man’s food, the usage of cassava has greatly diversified in terms of both industrial and domestic applications. This coupled with the introduction of improved varieties and better farming options calls for innovative ways of handling the increasing volumes of fresh cassava tubers to minimize post-harvest losses. One of the important postharvest processes is size reduction which is achieved by either chipping or grating. Improved production methods alone are not adequate to solve the issues of field losses in cassava production. Factors affecting the efficiency of size reduction operation include operator experience, disc type, disc speed, cutting clearance and moisture content. Conventionally, this has been done manually but due to the inherent problems, the use of machines is being encouraged through the development and adoption of chipping/grating machines. In this study, the machine developed was dual-powered and allowed conversion from a chipper to a grater and vice versa as need be. It has a capacity of 162.15kg/h and 81.62 kg/h when chipping and grating respectively. The chipping process consumed less power averaging 0.0034 kW/kg compared to 0.0075 kW/kg used in the grating and these chips dried faster than manually worked cassava. Keywords: Cassava, post-harvest, chipping, grating, dual power DOI: 10.7176/ISDE/13-1-06 Publication date:June 30th 202