What is it about?
The merits of mechanised planting into crop residues with minimal soil disturbance are well documented for operations using 4-wheel tractors. However, for the 2-wheel tractor which is very widespread in Asia for use on small farms, this type of planting technology has not been readily available and that has hampered the development of conservation agriculture for the smallholder farmers of Asia (and Africa). We set out to correct that situation.
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Why is it important?
The Versatile Multi-crop Planter was developed for smallholder agriculture in Bangladesh to establish a range of crop species and to place fertiliser close to the planted seed. It enables crop establishment with minimum soil disturbance in small fields with standing crop residues. It enables smallholders to practice conservation agriculture and capture the benefits of time saving, decreased labour, cost and fuel requirements for crop establishment which in turn increase profitability of crop production. The paper provides the evidence of its performance with a range of crop species across several years and sites in Bangladesh.
Perspectives
There are many types of planters for conservation agriculture cropping systems on large farms with large machinery. This study reports on field evidence of the effective performance of the Versatile Multi-crop Planter, developed in Bangladesh, for small farms, particularly those in the Eastern Gangetic plains.
Richard Bell
Murdoch University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: MECHANISED MINIMUM SOIL DISTURBANCE ESTABLISHMENT AND YIELD OF DIVERSE CROPS IN PADDY FIELDS USING A TWO-WHEEL TRACTOR-MOUNTED PLANTER SUITABLE FOR SMALLHOLDER CROPPING, Experimental Agriculture, July 2017, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0014479717000370.
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