Rwanda | Farming mechanism could lead to more production

The association of farmers “Ubumwe” in Kamonyi district is grateful of good yields harvested in the previous season which they attribute to the use of a tilling tractor.

The machine though small simplifies the work within a very short period of time and leads the crops to grow at the same pace but high costs of hiring the machine seem to hinder a wide use.

The employee of ‘Ubumwe’ farmers cooperative Emmanuel Sempinga said that the digging tractor is good enough for people who practice large scale farming which does the work with in every short period of time that would have taken many days for a farmer using a hoe to cover.

“The digging machines covers one hectare of land in a day which would take about 50 days for farmers digging with their hoes to cover”, Sempinga remarked.

The president of ‘Ubumwe’ cooperative Focus Habyarabatuma agreed that the using of a digging tractor in the digging season of 2012A enabled their cooperative to get every good harvest.

He said the digging tractor is hired at Rwf60,000 on a day but that cooperatives need to buy their own digging tractors instead of hiring on daily basis which is costly.

The association ‘way invest’ that hires out tilling tractors reveal that farming while using the tractors enables the crops to grow at the same rate which enables the farmers to harvest all the crops at the same time. Over 8 hectares of land in Kamiranzovu swamp have been cultivated within a period of five days, a work that could not be done by a hand hoe or common ploughing.

http://umuhinzi.com/2012/03/rwanda-farming-mechanism-lead-production/