Activities
of the Agricultural Engineering Branch (AGSE)
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Policy and Farm
power
Environment
and Engineering
Gender and
Ergonomics
Selection,
Testing and Evaluation of Agricultural Machinery, Tools
and Equipment
In order to make efficient use of engineering inputs it
is important that engineers, researchers, designers,
manufacturers, dealers ànd farmers co-operate to get the
correct inputs in the right place. In the past too much
emphasis has been placed on the supply side alone in
selecting and designing appropriate machinery.
AGSE has organized different training and workshops on
selection, testing and evaluation, targeted at test
engineers and policy makers. Principals and practices are
described in AGS bulletin 110,
whereas the theory can be found in AGS bulletins 84
and 115.
Testing
of Agricultural Machinery OECD(Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development)
Official
testing reports of agricultural and forestry tractor
performance
International Trade in Used Agricultural
Machinery
World wide there is an important trade in used
agricultural machinery. Used tractors, combines and
smaller equipment like ploughs are often shipped over
considerable distances. Machinery that is nearing the end
of its economic life in one country can still be very
profitable in another. It is, however, important that the
importing country does not receive "scrap" and
that there is adequate after-sales support.
To get a better insight into the usefulness of this
trade, AGSE has undertaken a few country studies that are
presently being compiled in a global report.
Agricultural
Mechanization Strategy Formulations
Agricultural mechanization is not an isolated activity
but is part of complex interactions between numerous
actors. Besides agronomic, technical and social aspects
there is also an important role played by institutional
aspects like agricultural education, extension and
research. Subsidies, infrastructure and the world market,
too, are important.
In order to make appropriate use of available resources
AGSE stimulates and assists member countries in
formulating a National
Agricultural Mechanization Strategy. Such a strategy
indicate ways to improve production and food security
through policy measures, investments, agricultural and
technical interventions.
So far, AGSE has assisted ten countries in formulating a
strategy.
Global
Assessment of Farm Power
Adequate and timely provision of farm power (mechanical,
animal and human power), is an essential condition for
the agricultural production process to be efficient.
Seasonal shortages of labour often are a serious
bottleneck. On the other hand, employment opportunities
in agriculture are in many developing countries a major
factor in alleviating rural poverty and in migration
decisions. Investment in power-related capital stock (hand
tools, draught animals and implements, mechanical power,
etc.) is usually a major share of on-farm investment. The
same applies to expenditure for on-farm power in total
annual outlays for production inputs.
AGSE, in a joint effort with FAO's Global Perspective
Studies Unit (ESDG), is presently undertaking a study on
the subject. The related "global" questions to
be answered are what will be the future demand for power
in the agricultural sector of developing countries and
how does this translate in mechanization, employment
opportunities and investment requirements.
Hand
Tool Technology
& Blacksmithing
AGSE has been promoting the concept of the "Village
Workshop" as an indispensable unit for supplying and
maintaining hand tools in optimum conditions to support
agricultural development in rural areas. Local
blacksmiths have a key role to play in this context. Blacksmith's
training manuals at various levels have been prepared
to provide artisans, depending on their skills
possibilities to fit in a suitable training programme and
improve their knowledge in a gradual process. These
manuals are available in three different languages,
namely English, French and Spanish. The approach to
training is to provide artisans with opportunities to
make their own set of workshop tools during the initial
training sessions. The enhanced training can increase
trainees efficiency at work in using standard and
improved workshop tools to make as well as repair
agricultural hand tools. These facilities are intended to
offer professional services and inputs to the wider
farming community at the local level.
Draught Animal Technology
AGSE participates and actively supports informal network
on Animal Traction, in particular ATNESA (Animal Traction
for Eastern and Southern Africa) and was elected as a
member on its steering committee, following the Kenya
workshop held between 4 and 8 December 1995. Efforts are
being made to revive the West African Animal Traction
Network (WAATN). Anyone who would like to participate in
these Networks is invited to contact the Agricultural
Engineering Branch. AGSE has published the proceedings
of the Harare Workshop on "Human and Draught Animal
Power in Crop Production" organized by Silsoe Research
Institute, UK between 18 and 22 January 1993. The
publication is available in two languages, namely English
and French. A reference manual on "Employment of
Draught Animals" is also available. These
publications can be supplied free of charge. AGSE is
currently preparing a strategy document on Draught Animal
Technology, to provide guidelines for assisting its
member nations, especially developing countries, to
prepare suitable programme and activities consistent with
their National Plan. AGSE is collaborating with Animal
Production Service (AGAP) regarding Draught Animal
Technology. AGSE is also working very closely with IMAG-DLO(
Agricultural Engineering Institute, Netherlands) in
providing technical assistance to a UNDP-United Nations
Development Programme in Nigeria on promoting Animal
Traction activities in Nigeria, following an FAO/AGSE
earlier assistance in Blacksmith's Training under its
Technical Cooperation Programme.
Information Supply
Supply of information to member countries is an important
part of AGSE's work. The objective is to expand AGSE/FAO's
position as a global focal point for developing countries
on agricultural engineering issues and to create an
awareness of the crucial importance of Agricultural
Engineering as a key input to agricultural production and
food security. To fulfill this function AGSE has several
activities to support the main objective. These are
Participation in and Support for Conferences and
Workshops and production of Bulletins
and Occasional Papers on Agricultural Engineering
subjects related to development.
Replacement
Parts
Machinery can only work productively if it is kept in
good order, and this means a regular supply of
replacement parts. Unfortunately, in many countries, farm
power has been introduced without the necessary
infrastructure to support it. Consequently, the working
life of machinery has been shortened to the point where
its use is totally uneconomical. All too often, machinery
has not enjoyed parts availability sufficient to keep up
to routine maintenance, let alone repair breakdowns. The
logical solution to the problem is to ensure an
organization exists with the funds, facilities, equipment
and expertise to stock parts needed to keep machinery
working. AGSE is actively involved in assisting with the
establishment of businesses dealing with replacement
parts.
Farm
Structures
Farm structures includes farm buildings and other
permanent structures like silos and driveways. Besides
purely technical issues of design of structures,
selection of materials and environmental questions,
especially in the opening economies of Eastern Europe
changes in the farm sizes brought farm structures up to
be a policy issue. AGSE has in 1995 in the Czech Republic
carried out a study on farm buildings in Eastern Europe
with the objective to define the requirements for new
structures or changes according to the new economic
system. Due to lack of staff and resources work in the
farm structure area has been discontinued since then.
Input
Supply
A new approach to donor input supply projects has been
successfully developed and carried out by AGSE in Albania.
Agricultural inputs including equipment, tools, materials
and others have been supplied demand driven through
commercial channels. The input supply activities were
used to build up through "on the job training"
a professional dealer network. An occasional paper on the
new approach to input
supply is available.
Pesticide
Application Technology
Technical aspects of the application of pesticides and
other agricultural inputs are in many countries of the
world neglected and on field level unknown. Huge amounts
of pesticides are wasted or unnecessarily applied and
large number of persons involved in spraying suffer from
intoxication because farmers and equipment operators do
not know the principles of application technology and
because the equipment they use is obsolete or in bad
working conditions. The public was informed about the
situation through an FAO Press
release. An occasional paper by AGSE on Agricultural
Pesticide Application - Concepts for Improvements is
available in English
and Spanish.
Inadequate application techniques are often the reason
why biological products as non-chemical alternative to
synthetic pesticides fail on commercial scale. AGSE is
addressing this problem with a Programme for Safe and
Efficient Application of Agro-chemicals and Bio-products
which includes awareness creation, technical advice and
the formulation of Standards for safer and more efficient
application equipment and guidelines on the introduction
of the respective regulatory framework:
GUIDELINES
ON MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDE
APPLICATION EQUIPMENT.
Volume One: PORTABLE (OPERATOR-CARRIED)
Volume Two:
VEHICLE_MOUNTED AND TRAILED SPRAYERS
Volume Three:
PORTABLE (OPERATOR-CARRIED)FOGGERS
GUIDELINES
ON STANDARDS FOR AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDE APPLICATION
EQUIPMENT AND RELATED TEST PROCEDURES.
Volume One: PORTABLE (OPERATOR-CARRIED) SPRAYERS
Volume Two:
VEHICLE-MOUNTED AND TRAILED SPRAYERS
GUIDELINES
ON PROCEDURES FOR THE REGISTRATION CERTIFICATION AND
TESTING OF NEW PESTICIDE APPLICATION EQUIPMENT
GUIDELINES
ON THE ORGANIZATION OF SCHEMES FOR TESTING AND
CERTIFICATION OF AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDE SPRAYERS IN USE
GUIDELINES
ON ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF TRAINING SCHEMES AND
CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR OPERATORS OF PESTICIDE
APPLICATION EQUIPMENT
GUIDELINES
ON GOOD PRACTICE FOR GROUND APPLICATION OF PESTICIDES
GUIDELINES
ON GOOD PRACTICE FOR AERIAL APPLICATION OF PESTICIDES
This programme and
particularly the equipment standards are understood as
complement to the FAO
Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides
and in support of the programme on Safe
Management of Pesticides of the Pesticide
Management Unit of the FAO Plant Protection Service AGPP.
The main objective of modern sustainable pest management
is to reduce the reliance on synthetic pesticides and
enhance biosystems that allow a balance between
beneficial fauna and flora and pests. This concept,
described as integrated
pest management requires as well safer, more directed
and less wasteful techniques for the application of
pesticides or other pest control agents. These techniques
reduce the undesired impact of pesticides on non-target
areas or organisms like beneficial insects which are
fundamental for allowing a pest management with less or
eventually without synthetic pesticides.
Conservation
Agriculture
Joint AGSE/AGLL programme on Conservation
Agriculture
Soil degradation world-wide is a major reason for concern.
In a press release FAO stressed the
need for new concepts for soil conservation.
Reduction of mechanical tillage, promotion of soil
organic matter through permanent soil cover appear to be
the most promising approach to revert the soil
degradation process and achieve a high agricultural
production level on a truly sustainable basis. The
approach is best been described as "conservation agriculture" and
replaces mechanical soil tillage by "biological
tillage".
The importance of the availability of appropriate
technologies at the farm level for the success of
conservation farming is the direct justification for the
involvement of AGSE in this initiative.
Background: Aspects of agricultural
engineering are one known bottleneck to the adoption of
sustainable farming practices saving soil and water
resources. There are indications that the commercial
introduction of specific implements triggered a wide
adoption of these farming practices in some countries (USA
for large farmers, Brazil for small farmers). This has
been also identified by AGLL and the new AGSE programme
was from a very early point merged with the ongoing AGLL
activity on conservation tillage.
Objective: Improvement of the sustainability
of tillage based cropping systems through the selection
and use of more appropriate tillage/planting equipment.
Expected outputs:
· a more restrictive use of certain tillage implements
· a better availability and adoption of equipment for
conservation farming practices
· a widespread adoption of conservation farming
practices
Issues:
This programme is carried out in close co-operation with
AGLL and AGP.
The availability and use of appropriate tillage and
planting equipment cannot be separated from agricultural
practices. On the other side the introduction of
conservation farming practices has in many cases failed
due to the lack of commercially available appropriate
technology. Following issues are in particular addressed
by AGSE:
· The need of tillage and the selection of the required
type of equipment for each specific case.
· Implication of machinery use in general on tillage
requirements (compaction)
· Commercial availability of suitable equipment
· Alternatives for the organization of equipment use for
small farmers (hire services, multi-farm use schemes)
Activities
1. Problem identification and definition
After initial field visits and contacts to research
workers, extensionists and farmers being active in
conservation farming an occasional paper titled From Soil
Conservation to Conservation Agriculture was produced by
AGSE and distributed to a selection of interested people.
The paper is available in English
and Spanish.
For West Africa a survey was carried out (97/98)
on the impact of motorized soil tillage. The report
has been translated into French and is being distributed
in French
and English
language.
2. Networking
AGSE joined AGLL in the co-operation and support of the
Latin American Network for Conservation Tillage (RELACO)
introducing the aspects of agricultural engineering in
the adoption of conservation tillage practices. In the
1997 meeting of the network the official name of RELACO
was changed to Network for Conservation Agriculture
widening the scope to a holistic view of the farming
activities. RELACO is receiving financial and
technical support to develop a self-sustained and
financed organization promoting conservation agriculture
in Latin America. FAO has during the last years been
cosponsoring the biannual RELACO meetings rotating
throughout the member countries. This support continues
for the 1999 meeting planned in Brazil. The proceedings
of these meetings are published.
Initiatives are undertaken to develop a similar network
in Africa and link the existing networks together to
facilitate the spread of information. Contacts have also
been made to a newly established European Conservation
Agriculture Federation (ECAF).
3. Dissemination
In view of the successful adoption of conservation
farming in Latin America, in particular among small
farmers in Brazil a first workshop to exchange
experiences between Latin America and Africa was carried
out with AGLL at IITA in Nigeria in April 1997.
Participants were officers from the Ministries of
Agriculture from Portuguese and Spanish speaking African
Countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Mozambique, Sao Tomé et Principe) and 4 Brazilian TCDC
experts.
In June 1998 an International workshop on
Conservation Tillage for Sustainable Agriculture
was held in Harare/Zimbabwe. The workshop was jointly
organized and sponsored by FAO-AGSE/AGLL/AGPC, GTZ, the
South African Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the
Zimbabwean Farmers Union (ZFU). Objectives of the
workshop were:
· Prepare steps leading to a regional conservation
tillage initiative by sharing regional and world-wide
experience in conservation tillage and extracting lessons
of possible relevance to small scale farmers in sub-Saharan
Africa;
· Create sustainable mechanisms (such as networks) for
the follow-up of the action plan and the improved
exchange of experiences in south-eastern Africa and with
other regions;
· Develop guidelines for environmentally sound tillage
practices for the protection of soils which could lead to
the adoption of a code of conduct as a world-wide policy
instrument in support of conservation tillage;
In November 1998 AGSE staff participated and supported a Conservation
Tillage Workshop organized by the Animal Traction
Network ATNESA in Namibia.
4. Training
As a result of the workshops in Harare and Namibia two
conservation tillage experts (from Brazil and Colombia)
provided under TCDC arrangements financed
under the budget of AGSE a two weeks training course
in Namibia introducing also Brazilian zero-tillage
planters for animal traction to Namibia.
5. Policy
During the International Workshop on Conservation Tillage
for Sustainable Agriculture an experts consultation took
place to draft Guidelines for Environmentally Sound
tillage practices as basic document for the development
of a Code of Conduct for Sustainable Land Management.
6. Publications
The proceedings of the IITA workshop are being
prepared in Spanish, Portuguese and French.
The English version is available as an FAO land and water
bulletin No. 8.
The proceedings of the Harare workshop are
printed in English as hard copy.
AGS Bulletin no. 147 "Zero tillage development in tropical Brazil - The story
of a successful NGO activity"
with the introduction of conservation farming in the small
farming sector is now available. The Spanish version is
being prepared for printing.
The report on motorized soil tillage in West Africa
is available in English
and French
language as occasional paper and published on the AGSE
homepage.
A presentation about history, structure and
achievements of the Latin American Network on
Conservation Agriculture (RELACO).
A CD-ROM containing all the above publications
as well as a further series of FAO bulletins on soil
conservation is commissioned and will be presented in
short time.
Gender
issues in Agricultural Engineering
Agricultural engineering is traditionally viewed as a
male dominated technical discipline. In farming practice
particularly in Africa it turns out that much, if not
most, of the field work (including the use of numerous
tools and pieces of equipment) is managed and carried out
by female farmers. Despite this, a lot of male
agricultural engineers acting in their capacity as
project practitioners, extensionists, researcher or
policy makers, are not prepared to approach and work with
women farmers. AGSE has, in collaboration with other FAO
Technical Services like SDWW,
implemented a sub-programme on gender issues. The outcome
of the subprogramme is a booklet and poster called "Making
Each and Every Farmer Count - Participation in
Agricultural Engineering Projects" . The initial
idea for the booklet was born in 1996 after a workshop
on 'Gender and Agricultural Engineering in Kadoma,
Zimbabwe of which the proceedings are available within
AGSE.
In 1997 AGSE together with IFAD and the FAO Field
programme FARMESA
conducted a Study on
the Potential for Improving Production Technology of Farm
Women in Africa. The study was carried out in Burkina
Faso, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The final
report will be available from AGSE in April 1998.
Safety,
Ergonomics and Health
Human working conditions in agriculture regarding
operator's safety, health hazards and comfort give,
particularly in developing countries, reason for concern.
While some industrialized countries have adopted national
safety standards, regional approaches like the CEN codes
of the European Union are still incomplete and not
adopted by all member countries. However, compliance with
safety rules involves usually higher costs and requires a
certain level of literacy which is usually not available
within the rural population of low income developing
countries. AGSE raised the issue during the 12th session
of the FAO Panel of Experts on Agricultural engineering
in October 1994. A recommendation of that panel was to
create more awareness about this topic.
As a first step AGSE is formulating standards, applicable
for all FAO member countries, to make pesticide
application equipment safer.
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