Innovative machines from FCA Ishiagu

Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, as an institution has a vision to be internationally recognized as a center of excellence for research development, scientific innovations and training of highly skilled, self-reliant and competitive agricultural technologists for sustainable agriculture and human development to meet national and global challenges. The Department of Agricultural & bioenvironmental Engineering Technology, trained up her diplomates to meet up this global vision through innovative research and development and has been able to make some significant contributions in this direction by developing simple but innovative, problem-solving technologies worthy of note.

Few of these innovations are showcased in this post.

 Innovative developments in 2019

Electrically powered lawn mower

 

The Department has successfully developed, tested and published a research on portable electrically powered grass mower  rated at over 90% performance efficiency. The machine (shown in pix) is powered by a 12V lead battery supplying about 38Ah direct current to power the motor and capable of working for approximately 3hrs at full charge. 

 

Developed machine

 

The machine mow grasses with two 200mm cutter blades rotating at 19,300rpm. Compare to the conventional engine powered mowers, it is easily maneuvered due to its light weight (17kg) and eco-friendly in operation.

 

Machine under test

 

 

 

 

Modified Shoulder-strapped brush cutter 

Leveraging on seeking appropriately driven solutions to the perennial problems of efficient weed management, eco-friendly and ergonomics in machine operation, the Department also improved on the performance of shoulder-strapped brush cutters by developing a carrier for the cutter (see pix below) to eliminate musculoskeletal disorder in machine operators  and other related discomforts.

Modified shoulder-strapped machine

Ergonomic assessment shows that operators are subjected to different levels of pains around the neck, shoulders, upper arm and fingers which are largely traceable to long-period operation, prolonged mild vibrations, arm contraction and extension during operation, exertion due to the prolong lifting of the weight of the machine. Based on these outcomes, the machine was modified. 

Shoulder-strapped and modified machine operation

  

According to an FAO source, an advocacy for  interventions focusing on single-component agricultural innovations towards a system-approach should aimed at strengthening institutions and stakeholders’ networks for better response to the needs of smallholder farmers. 

This blog post is focused on such advocacy toward promotion of sustainable machine development and innovations in agricultural industry.

I need your similar innovative contributions and research outcomes to be given publicity as well as comments on how to improve the posts on this blog.

 Thank you, watch out for my next post.