 ID: 8529
Added: 2002-08-29 16:08
Modified: 2003-04-07 8:17
Refreshed: 2010-03-14 04:42
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| The AIT-IDRC Jab Seeder - A Tool for Manual Seeding |
Document(s) 8 of 14
Introduction
Impact
Potential users
Cost and availability
Contact
Resources Introduction Traditionally, poor farmers in northern Thailand spend long, tedious hours seeding their farms by hand. Seeding is done in three steps: making holes, dropping seeds in, and covering them up. The task is laborious, time-consuming, unpleasant, and tiring. To improve matters, the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, with IDRC support, set out in the early 1980s to develop a new tool that became known as the AIT-IDRC Jab Seeder. It is a low-cost, simple, easy-to-operate dibble, which increases productivity, while reducing both planting costs and the drudgery of traditional methods of seeding. Since hole-making and seed-dropping are done simultaneously, there is no bending or squatting. A farmer simply punches the shovel-like soil opener into the ground to make a hole and the seeds are released into the hole as the Seeder is lifted. Jab Seeder features: - Very portable, weighing 2 kgs and measuring 1.5 meters long;
- The amount of seed to be planted per hectare can be adjusted;
- Works with soybean, mungbean, rice, maize, peanut, and cotton; can be used for fertilizer application;
- Useful in various types of soil, including untilled (wet) soil with rice stubble and tilled soil with or without residues from previous crops;
- The shovel-like soil opener can be replaced with a round soil opener for use in wet, untilled soil.
Since 1991, the agricultural sector in Thailand has experienced dramatic change, because the country is in transition moving from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Increasing prices for agricultural commodities, especially rice, during the past three years have resulted in an increasing degree of mechanization of agricultural production. Agricultural machinery has changed from being very labour-intensive to becoming highly mechanized. Examples include single and double-axle tractors, water pumps, sprayers, seed planters and threshers. Consequently, the Jab Seeder and other manual planters have been replaced on many farms by planters drawn by tractors. However, Jab Seeders are still used by those farmers who have small planting areas or who cannot afford mechanized equipment. As well, they are used at some agricultural research stations. Impact - Broad dissemination, commercial production and sales - To date, more than 4 500 Jab Seeders have been made and sold to Thai farmers who cannot afford power-driven seed planters. The seeder is also designed for use in areas where large machines cannot work (e.g. seeding soybeans between rows of maize, and applying fertilizer to tobacco seedlings). Some 100 seeders have been sold and distributed in 34 other countries in Asia, Africa, Central America, South America, and the Pacific Islands. Clients include 49 government and international agencies, 10 manufacturers, and 15 private agencies.
Potential users Soybean, peanut, maize, rice, and cotton farmers who work small plots or who cannot afford mechanized seed planters.
Cost and availability The Jab Seeder costs approximately US $20. It is currently made to order by two Thai manufacturers: Ar-ree Ar-thorn
253/1-3 Talad Chong-kae
Amphor Takli
Nakornsawan, THAILAND 60210
Tel: (66-2) 056-262312 Kunasin
107-108 Srisatchanalai Rd.
Amphor Sawankalok
Sukhothai, THAILAND 64110
Tel: (66-2) 055-642119 Contact Prof. Gajendra Singh, Prof. David Gee-Clough or Dr. Chaiyaphol Kaewprakaisaengkul
Program of Agricultural & Food Engineering, School of Environment, Resources & Development
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
P.O. Box 4, Klongluang
Pathumthani, THAILAND 12120
Tel: (66-2) 5245450, 5245488-9
Fax: (66-2) 5246200
E-mail: chaiphol@ait.ac.th
Web site: http://www.ait.ac.th/ Resources Manuals available from AIT: Operator's Manual - AIT Jab Seeder (in English and Thai).
Manufacturing's Manual - AIT Jab Seeder (in English). Engineering drawings, fabrication jigs and fixtures, and technical assistance in the manufacturing of the Seeder can be obtained from AIT. The following publications are also available: An End to Bending. January 1985. IDRC Reports, 15(4),12. Kaewprakaisaengkul, C. October 1987. AIT Jab Seeder. Chao Kaset Journal, 7(77) , 53-55. [In Thai] Kaewprakaisaengkul, C.1987. Development and testing of the AIT Jab Seeder. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Thai Society of Agricultural Engineering, 26-28 March. Bangkok. [In Thai] Singh, G.; Gee-Clough, D.; Kaewprakaisaengkul, C.; Thongsawatwongdi, P. 1988. Evaluation, improvement and demonstration of a manual soybean seeder. AIT Research Report No. 214. Agri. and Food Engr. Div., AIT, Bangkok, Thailand. Singh, G.; Kaewprakaisaengkul, C.; Piriyapan, V.; Kittiyopas, D. 1991. Extension of AIT-IDRC Jab Seeder in Thailand. AIT Research Report No. 254. Agri. and Food Engr. Div., AIT, Bangkok, Thailand. Singh, G.; M. Rahman. 1983. Manual soybean seeder. AIT Research Report No. 159. Agri. and Food Engr. Div., AIT, Bangkok, Thailand. From the IDRC library: Kaewprakaisaengkul, C. Gee-Clough, D. Singh, G. Thongsawatwongdi, P. 1985. Progress report on manual soybean seeder (phase II), Dec. 1984-Apr. 1985. Agricultural and Food Engineering Division, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. 91 pp. Singh, G. 1988. Final report on evaluation, improvement and demonstration of a manual soybean seeder. Agricultural and Food Engineering Division, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. 116 pp.
Document(s) 8 of 14
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