IITA modified simple motorized weeders being used on a cassava field in Ibadan |
Gasoline powered simple weeders adapted for weeding in
cassava farms hold promise and may take off the burden of weeding faced by
small-scale farmers in Africa.
The statement said by 2016, the machines were being tested on farmers’ fields across 58 sites in Nigeria and that following this progress, a team of Nigerian engineers and fabricators are also working on a local version with materials sourced locally for its construction.
Demonstrating the machines during a field trip organized by
the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), recently, in Abeokuta;
the Project Leader, IITA-Cassava Weed Management Project, Dr Alfred Dixon said
the adoption of the machines would help smallholder farmers come out of
poverty, and it would create jobs for youths in rural communities.
The meeting in Abeokuta was aimed at reviewing the progress,
exploring opportunities, and discussing options for interventions to increase
Nigerian cassava farmers’ access to mechanization services in a sustainable
manner.
During the field trip, participants assessed what weed
control options are available for cassava farmers in particular, and most
importantly, to what extent the AATF led Cassava Mechanization and
Agroprocessing Project (CAMAP) has impacted on the lives of rural farmers.
A joint resolution by participants endorsed mechanization in
cassava as the way to go to help resource-poor farmers especially women and
youths out of poverty.
Dr Emmanuel Okogbenin, AATF Director of Technical Operations
while presenting the communiqué of the meeting noted that mechanisation such as
the simple motorized weeders could create a big impact at farm level,
considering that majority of African farmers operate on small scale.
Based on CAMAP’s experience, tractors and other bigger
machinery are also critical for mechanization where smallholder farmers could
be mobilized into clusters.
Participants unanimously agreed that the CAMAP approach to mechanization
deserve support from donors and governments so the initiative could be taken to
scale.
There was also the consensus that future intervention in mechanization
in Nigeria should capitalize on and align efforts with ongoing government
initiatives such as the Agriculture Equipment Hiring Enterprises.
Other
entry points identified were individual tractor owners, associations of tractor
owners, large farms that service neighbors, and state and local governments
that own tractors.
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