Tillers International Cultivator Re-Design Project 2009

http://www.tillersinternational.org/farming/tools.html
Tillers's staff and international trainees are working to design animal-drawn cultivators for use in Uganda and Mozambique. The cultivators must be scaled down from American historic models to suit smaller African oxen and must be adapted to local manufacturing capabilities.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• education
• tillers
• international
• cultivator
• cultivators
• cultivating
• oxen
• ox
• draft
• animal
• power
• draught
• traction
• mozambique
• uganda
• farm
• farming
• appropriate
• technology

[TillersInternational]

The best tractors in the world don't work long term. Access to parts as well as the money to buy the parts, diesel fuel, etc are not available. Many tractors brought in by International groups are left to rust beside the fields. Renting tractors will always be difficult in areas of the world where people's incomes is at or less than $2 a day.

[TillersInternational]

Hi ShushLorraine,

The person walking behind or riding on the cultivator is steering by handles and by foot pedals, which is extremely important since the cultivator can as easily pull up the crop as it can weeds. A wheel in front could make steering the cultivator easier, however, wheels are often difficult to make locally in small African villages.

Thanks for watching!

[lecturerofengine]

It is better to change the chain with rigid beam, so the 'operator' will not swing right and left behind the animals which make he or she more tired.In indonesia, we use the rigid beam for animal traction implements, eventhough almost all of the animals have been change with light weight tractors that are suitable for narrow land.

[mogges1]

Now this kind of tillage, will make a man out yah.you'll sure e know you done some work walking behind a oxs all day

[LTF85199]

this is the 21st century, get them a few tractors, that they all can rent around.

[dfunkt]

@cookinwithwine

how so exactly?

[cookinwithwine]

Tilling is killing the soil.

[ShushLorraine]

The walking behind didn't make any sense to me. I mean, couldn't a wheel cultivator do better than that? The handles were too short and the oxen too fast it seemed to me. Then, at last the last cultivator, but then I wondered, why was the man even sitting there? For the weight? Didn't look as if he was guiding the oxen or the cultivator at all. Anyway, glad to see. Thanks for sharing.