This short article will help you understand how many tractors, combines, or rippers to you need to buy for any number of hectares.

How to determine the quantity of farm machinery that you need to buy for your farm

This short article will help you understand how many tractors, combines, or rippers  you need to buy for any number of hectares.

Farmer of all sizes across the globe need mechanization solutions. But, what determines the number of equipment a farmer should buy?

Depending on many factors, farmers have very unique needs that may require customized mechanization solutions and it is important to take every single farmer seriously. When dealing with farmers, it is critical to listen keenly and then design a solution that fits to the needs. I have tried to simplify a few points below to help you understand which and how many equipments you need to buy for the work you want to be done on your farm. Come with me.

Understanding the value-added by mechanization

  • Farm mechanization makes work easier, fast, and efficient.
  • Hand tools cannot attain efficiency in certain farm operations like planting, spraying, ripping etc.
  • Hand tools cannot be used on a large scale farm

Therefore, mechanization is an indispensable solution to every farmer who is looking for efficiency.

The golden principle of "Open Work Days" or "Working Window" in farming

Farm work must strictly start on time and complete on time.

  • Farm activities are seasonal, meaning that they are carried out at a particular point and time of the year,
  • This implies that farmers do not have the luxury of time, and they must complete all activities on time or else bad weather will catch up with them. For example:

1. Ripping is recommended on dry soils and should therefore be completed before the onset of rains

2. Beans harvesting must be completed within 20 days after maturity  failure to which the capsule will start to explode/burst leading to loss of grains

3. Spraying of chemicals should be done in the morning hours before the sunrise or before the weather gets hot

Do you see where I am headed to? How many equipments would you require to beat the above deadlines in your piece of land?

It is therefore important that every farmer understands the patterns of dry and rainy seasons in their country/region and plan activities accordingly.

With much-squeezed timelines, hand tools cannot beat the deadlines and hence mechanization should come in handy.

To conclude, the golden rule of open workdays says that THE NUMBER OF EQUIPMENT NEEDED IS DETERMINED BY THE AMOUNT OF WORK THAT SHOULD BE COMPLETED WITHIN A GIVEN TIMEFRAME.

This is the logic that every farmer should use to determine the number of farm equipment that they need to buy.

Remember, there is no alternative to TIMELINESS in farming. 

Feel free to talk to me! Wambugu

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