Fuel-friendly tractors attract small scale farmers’ attention
Patrick Abigaba an agronomist at Bulind ZARDI explains how to operate the walking tractor during the Seeds of Gold Farm Clinic last month. PHOTO by francis mugerwa
What you need to know:
- Patrick Abigaba attaches the single row planter onto a walking tractor that sows seeds in a row throughout the fields. It can plant at least five acres a day, writes Denis Bbosa.
Tilling huge tracts of land by a hand hoe is a tedious activity that could go on for days and weeks – increasing the cost of labour for a farmer.
More than 90 per cent of Ugandan farmers till the land probably twice first, before sowing and then weeding manually.
Patrick Abigaba, a farmer in Hoima District, however, does it differently and easily, using a hand-held tractor that saves him a great deal.
How Abigaba uses the tractor
Abigaba who is also an agronomist at Bulindi ZARDI in Hoima assembled the planter to enable him practice zero tilling to realise high yields. Zero tilling or no tilling entails planting crops on soil that has remained un-ploughed after the harvest of the previous season. According to Abigaba even ladies can easily operate the tractor.
The tractor
That a lady can also operate the walking tractor hand-pushed multipurpose tractor is appetising enough to try it out.
Farmers at the Bulindi-ZARDI Seeds of Gold Farm Clinic were left in total awe as Abigaba illustrated the efficiency of a Yamaha two-wheel tractor.
The machine has been designed with specific considerations to make farming appealing. It has a plough disc, gears and two handlebars that allow the operator dictate movement.
Cost and fuel consumption
The walking tractors come in different sizes and strengths. This particular one with a relatively low Horse Power (HP) costs Shs12m.
“We procured this tractor three years ago but we have never got any mechanical problem with it. It is powered by an engine. We also use it to pump water, plough the land and carrying produce to stores,” says Abigaba.
Most importantly, he adds, this Yamaha tractor version is fuel friendly.
“It is efficient in fuel consumption; two litres of diesel can till one acre, can power many machines.” This type according to Abigaba, is assembled at the mechanical centre in Namalere-Kawanda.
“If you are using a slasher, it consumes less fuel,” he adds.
Tthe simplicity to learn how to operate it sweeps any farmer off their feet.
“You do not require a permit to operate it. Within 30 minutes, a farmer would have learned how to engage the gear and wheeling it off,” he says.
Small holder farmers can also use it to pump water to their farms.
The let down side
Being a manually operated tractor, it is tiresome and cumbersome to be used in a hilly garden; Abigaba says it also doesn’t operate best in hard or stony areas.
