Sudan - Gezira study mission (Vol. 6 of 15) : Annex II : appendix 3 : mechanization in the Gezira

cn l- .~~~~~~~~~~~L tI |wilE I u _ '< < RECORDS CENTER ROOM RB-1 1966-68 MATERIAL BOX NO. 0)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~c ,~~~~~~~~ co '~~ t 2 g~01 H~ M  - ii - ANNEX II APPENDIX 3 - MECHAiNIZATION IN THE GEZIRA TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. HISTORICAL REVIEW ............................. 1 2. MECHANIZED OPERATIONS ......................... 4 Operations now Mechanized .................. 5 Perennial weed control ............... 5 Abu Ishreen maintenance. 5 Abu Sitta maintenance. 6 Ridging. 6 Crop spraying.... 7 Wheat cultivation. 8 Combine harvesters for wheat. 8 Operations which can be mechanized in the near future. 9 Fertilizer distribution. 9 Groundnut harvesting . . 10 Land levelling . .11 Operations which cannot be Mechanized without further Research and Development 11 Inter-row cultivation and weeding .... 11 Planting ............ . 12 Cotton harvesting . . 12 Cotton stalk pulling . . 13 Utilization of cotton stalks . . 14 Dura harvesting . . 15 Mechanization of specialized operations 15 3. FARM MACHINERY .............................. .. 16 Investment in Agricultural Machinery ....... 16 Replacements ......................... 16 Additional machinery ................. 17 Machinery Utilization, Working Rates and Costs ............................... 17 Annual utilization ................... 17 Working rates .. ................. 18 Charges for cultivations etc. ....... 19 S.G.B. recommendations ............... 19 Owners' quotations ................... 20 Operating costs .......... ........ . 20  ANNEX II - iii - APPENDIX 3 CHAPTER PAGE Foreign exchange component of operating costs. 21 Staff .21 Technical staff . ...... ..... . 21 Tractor drivers ...................... 21 Repairs . ............................. 22 The Scheme's fleet ..... .... 22 The private tractors ................. 23 Repairs in the future ........... ..... 23 4. THE FUTURE OF MECHANIZATION ................... 24 Tractor farms ....................... . 25 Cooperative ownership . . 25 Central pools ....... . ..... 26 Contractors . . 26 Contract Services ... 27 Ploughs Section ........* . ................. 27 Mechanization Research and Extension ....... 28  ANNEX II APPENDIX 3 C H A P T E R 1 HISTORICAL REVIEW The cultivation, planting, irrigating, weeding, spraying and harvesting of more than a million feddans each year is a formidable task, especially when fieldwork must conform to a rigid irrigation timetable. There are two main peaks in the seasonal labor demand in Gezira and Managil. The first, in June-September for cultivations, planting and weeding, and the second in February-May for harvesting and the gruelling task of pulling cotton stalks. The migrants who supply labor for the second peak are occuipied on their own rainland farms during the wet season June-September peak, and since the resident labor force is far too small to cultivate the whole area by hand, the dependence of the Scheme on mechanical cultivation can hardly be over- emphasized. This dependence is not a new development. From its early days the Gezira relied upoin mechanization to an extent which was unique among contemporary schemes in Africa. The decision to use steam-engined cultivators,and the design of the irrigation system, led to the pres- ervation of a pattern of land use unusually well adapted to modern methods of mechanization. The steam-engined cultivators, and the first post-war four-wheeled farm tractors which succeeded them during the 1950's, were cumbersome and could only work efficiently during the dry season, i.e. for the primary cultivations. The original 'engines' were beyond the capabilities of the field staff and were maintained and operated by the specialized Ploughs Sections 1/ of the Mechanical Erngineering Dep- artment. The Ploughs Section was responsible for the primary cultivation of all cotton land and for the control of perennial weeds on fallows. The working season was long, the amount of work to be done was known in advance and advantage could be taken of economies of scale. Traditionally, the critically important secondary cultivations (particularly final preparation of the planting ridges) were done by ox-driven implements. Some of the working cattle were owned by private contractors but the majority (about one pair to every 70 feddans) were owned by the Board, who paid selected farmers fS 4 per month to look after them. 1/ The words "ploughs" and "ploughing" are used somewhat loosely in the Gezira to include ridging, cultivating, etc. More specific terms are used wherever possible in this Appendix.  ANNEX II - 2 - APPENDIX 3 However, the engineering development of wheeled farm traetors was very rapid after the war and by the mid-1950's it had been shown that secondary cultivations could be done by suitable tractors and implements. The Ploughs Section could not undertake the secondary cultivations with their existing tractor fleet because of lack of time. The same area they had ridged during the six or seven dry months had to be re-ridged at least once in six or seven weeks. However, more than four times as many tractors were needed. Gezira soils can only be worked satisfactorily over.a restricted range of moisture contents and even the most modern equipment cannot work for several days after a heavy storm or an irrigation. Tractors can work on relatively few days during the planting and weeding season from July to September. In fact, experience has shown that at least six times as many tractors are needed during this short season as during the long dry season, and this is enough only if tractors are controlled locally and can be moved from field to field as soil/water conditions change. The Ploughs Section needs skilled operators to maintain the tractors and produce high outputs and cannot rely on seasonally-recruited, untrained drivers. Equally, it cannot afford to pay, house and administer a large number of men who are productively employed for only six or seven weeks of the year. The Board therefore decided, in 1956, not to expand the Ploughs Section but to leave the very seasonal secondary cultivations to private contractors who,by that time, had already purchased about 100;tractors. However, they also decided that to protect the existing investment the Ploughs Section should enjoy a complete monopoly of primary cultivations for cotton. In the decade since this decision was taken, the Board and private cattlemen have disposed of nearly all of the working cattle, but the number of privately-owned tractors has increased to nearly 650. Crop spraying and wheat harvesting are also operations which must be carried out during a relatively short season. For a few years the Ploughs Section did'carry out all spraying with tractor-mounted units but aerial spraying has so many advantages that it is now standard procedure. Here, even more than in the case of tractor cultivations, the extremely high cost of equipment and staff makes it uneconomical to retain a central pool to work within the Gezira for a few weeks each year. The Board therefore relies on crop protection contractors who charter many of the necessary aircraft and/or crews from the international market where overheads are kept within bounds by moving from country to country to obtain a year-round supply of work. With regard to combine harvesters (expensive to purchase and requiring skilled operation and maintenance). Some are owned by private individuals but more than half of the 60 or so machines needed for the wheat crop have been paid for by machinery cooperatives, actively fostered by the Board and until today managed and operated by local agricultural machinery distributors.  ANNEX II - 3 - APPENDIX 3 Mechanization, an integral and essential part of the Gezira farming system, is therefore the responsibility of four main and diverse types of organization: the Board's central pool: the large, inter- nationally-orientated crop protection firms: the machinery cooperatives: and the private contractors. 1/ Each of these groups has a well-defined and highly seasonal sphere of activity. Great hopes have been expressed in several quarters that an extension of mechanization would reduce the farmer's costs and reduce the work input demanded of him. At the same time, the cost of the Ploughs Section's service has been criticized. The mechanization of further operations is considered in the next chapter: the mission considers that there is scope, albeit limited, for further progress but does not foresee any reduction in costs. Costs are intimately linked to the organization of mechanization and the mission considers that the seasonal nature of the various operations, and the shortage of skilled technicians remain the basic factors. Perhaps the most pressing mechanization problem is to raise the standards of tractor cultivations to levels which are known to be attainable with existing equipment. Raising the standards may increase somewhat the cost of cultivation but will bring much larger increases in returns through significant and immediate increases in yield. Finally, the mission hopes that there will be a change in attitude towards mechanization. Due in part to the history of the Ploughs Section, tractor cultivations are still considered as an isolated specialist subject. While specialist staff will always be required to experiment, develop and advise, the aim of the proposals for extension and training is to familiarize all field staff and many farmers with the basic problems, as well as the advantages, of mechanization. 1/ According to a survey conducted by Mr. R. Scott, 88 percent of these contractors also hold tenancies; most (81.5 percent) have only one tractor. There is only one registered company, with four tractors, and only five cases of partnerships sharing a tractor.  ANNEX II APPENDIX 3 C H A P T E R 2 MECHANIZED OPERATIONS With one major exception, crops in the Gezira are grown on ridges which play an indispensable part in the irrigation system, minimize the effects of flooding, keep the plants in rows, facilitating proper spacing, encourage good aeration and bring other subsidiary benefits. Only wheat is grown on the flat, the field being divided into beds by small borders which should be spaced according to the topography. These basic systems, which the mission endorses from the agronomic and soils aspects (see Appendices 1 and 2) are very suitable for mechanical cultivations. Ridgers are balanced implements 1/ and require less skill- ful setting than, for example, a mouldboard plough. Both ridgers and the wide level discs used to prepare wheat seed beds are very wide implements, covering a lot of ground at each pass. The present irrigation system is less satisfactory. The various "stops" across the furrows (tagnets, robats, etc., see Appendix 2) are a serious impediment to all mechanized operations while the borders in wheat fields are obstacles to combine harvesters. Improved methods of irrigation, for which trials are recommended in Appendix 2, would simplify mechanization and reduce costs. At the present time, mechanization is largely confined to cultivations and to very heavy work such as Abu XX cleaning; again the exception is wheat, which is planted and harvested by machine. The Agricultural Engineering Section and the Village Farming Experiment, however, have shown that many other operations could be mechanized. 1/ The soil working parts of a ridging body are symmetrical and the sideways forces from each half cancel each other. In comparison, the parts of say, a mouldboard plough are asymimetrical and the resulting side thrust has to be taken up by the landside and the wheels of the implement and tractor.  ANNEX II 5 - APPENDIX 3 OPERATIONS NOW MECHANIZED Perennial Weed Control The main perennial weed "selid" 1/ is a pest of arable crops throughout the tropics. No satisfactory methods of chemical control are known although continuing research is recommended. The present method of control by a blading technique which cuts the deep roots, leaving the tubers to die of desiccation in the dry upper layers of the soil, is based on research work at the G.A.R.S. and is carried out throughout the dry season by heavy caterpillar tractors of the Ploughs Section, using implements developed by the Scheme's engineers. The work is done on the fallows before cotton; about 60 percent of these fallows are treated each year. The average interval between treatments is five to six years but the interval on any individual field is obviously controlled by the rotation, i.e. four or eight years in Gezira, three or six years in Managil. Some development is needed to perfect the design and maintenance of the blades. Present types perform their weed-killing adequately but leave the surface too rough for subsequent cultivations. It may also prove possible to make significant reductions in draft, and thus in costs, by redesigning the blade. The economics of rebuilding and reinforcing blades (which necessarily make them thick and blunt) instead of replacing them with new components should be critically examined. In general, while the mechanical techniques are effective, economies are possible through more efficient control of the work. Records of "selid" infestation in individual fields should be standardized and improved so that this very expensive operation is only done when absolutely necessary. Working depths should be carefully checked at frequent intervals (measurements being made from the undisturbed surface) and, as new more powerful replacement tractors become available 30 cm (12 inches) should become the standard depth. The working season should be strictly limited to ensure that no ineffective work is done in the beginning before the soil is dry, or at the end when rain showers may occur. Finally, water must never be allowed to escape onto treated fallows. Abu Ishreen Maintenance -The heavy tractors of the Ploughs Section clean out the Abu Ishreens serving each cotton number. The basic technique appears satisfactory, 1/ "Se'id" - Nutgrass, Cyperus rotundus  -NNEX II - 6 - APPENDIX 3 but the mission was unable to ascertain whether existing equipment is adequately maintaining the design size, level and grade of the channels. Detailed surveys (a suitable vacation task for university students) should be made when opportunities occur. The cost of this operation, involving long interrupted runs but much unproductive travelling, is particularly sensitive to careful planning and local supervision. Abu Sitta Maintenance Unlike the Abu Ishreens, the Abu Sittas are destroyed by the perennial weed control operation, although they are not affected by ridging and other normal cultivations. The majority of these channels are still dug and cleaned by hand but locally-made, tractor-mounted ditchers appear to do a satisfactory job. Private contractors should be advised to purchase these ditchers and the Scheme's specialists should establish contact with the local workshops that make them and try to encourage good design and a degree of standardization. Ridging The aim of ridging is to produce a weed-free ridge, sufficiently friable to permit movement of air and water and high enough to prevent overtopping by irrigation or flood water. Regular spacing and straight- ness are essential for proper irrigation, for surface drainage and for subsequent mechanized operations. The operation is carried out in two stages. The first, "dry ridging",is carried out by the Scheme's tractors; the second, "split ridging", is carried out by private tractors after the first rains have germinated the weeds. There appears to be no suitable alternative method of cultivation, although the development of herbicides may lead eventually to changes. Indeed, as has been seen in Appendix 1, there are probably specific agronomic advantages in carrying out the primary cultivation during extremely dry weather. The existing standard ridge size, 80 cm, is endorsed with the proviso that the standard height, 28-33 cm, must also be enforced. Nevertheless, there are advantages in larger ridges and it is recom- mended that trials should be conducted with 60, 75, 80, 90, 100 and 120 cm ridges. Trials should include all crops; groundnut treatments should include planting on the shoulders of the ridge, and different plant populations in two or more rows. Some of the trials should be sited in low-lying areas liable to flooding. 1/ 1/ 60 cm spacing is included because it is being advocated in the Gezira for groundnuts, 75 cm because it has been recommended for the Rahad Project but the mission doubts whether it will be adequate. Planting on ridge shoulders may be useful where salinity is a problem. It is interesting to note that large ridges were employed as a matter of routine on low-lying areas until the intro4uction of mobile flcod control ptrapr in Late 1950's.  ANNEX II - 7 - lPPENDIX 3 The greatest single problem in cultivations, however, is the generally poor quality of the final planting ridge. The equipment and methods used both by the Scheme and private owners, are suitable and no improvement can be made by introducing new implements. However, many ridgers, especially those belonging to private owners, are very badly maintained and adjusted. The main attack on this problem, which should be given priority over all other problems of mechanization, should be made through training operators and in extension work among the privately-owned fleet. The organization changes proposed in the Report should also help to improve the standard ofridging by encouraging closer supervision by farmers and field staff. The pre-sowing irrigations, recommended in Appendix 2, will facilitate good ridging and extend the season for split ridging. Crop Spraying Tractor-mounted sprayers have been used for routine spraying but they are severely handicapped by the growth habit of the cotton and by the tagnets, robats, etc. Indeed, it was normal practice to "bull-out" with ox-drawn ridgers to destroy these obstructions before spraying. Nevertheless, the tractor-sprayers could not work on fields that had recently been irrigated and much time was wasted in waiting for the ground to dry out or in returning to numbers that had been omitted. It may be suspected that many plots were, in fact, never sprayed and provided foci for reinfestation. Conditions in the Gezira and Managil are exceptionally favorable for aerial spraying; the aircraft are not affected by irrigation, by obstructions nor by the crop itself; they do not damage the crop; they can cover great areas 1/; flying conditions are also unusually good, offering the certainty that crops can be sprayed on any chosen day, and the necessary landing strips can be made with the minimum of work and expense during the dry season. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Scheme now carries out all routine spraying of large areas from the air. Recommendations for agronomic improvements in the timing and number of sprays have been made in Appendix 2, but the methods and techniques of spraying are entirely satisfactory and the work skillfully executed. 1/ The most common aircraft, the Pawnee, can cover about 1200 feddans per day. Enough aircraft were available during 1965/6 to cover the whole cotton area in about ten days.  --ANNEX 11 - 8 - APPENDIX 3 The introduction of ultra-low volume spraying 1/ might reduce direct spraying costs but would probably not have a spectacular influence on contract rates which must allow for,interalia, the cost of ferrying aircraft and the idle time of highly-paid staff between sprayings. The introduction of any such new technique, however, must be preceded by veryrigi.dly controlled agronomic and entomological trials. Tractor-mounted sprayers are still issued annually to Groups for the control of flea beetle and for spraying patches inaccessible to aircraft. They are fitted with wide-angle nozzles and those seen at work did not really give a satisfactory spray pattern. The mission recommends trials with motorized knapsack sprayers for local pest control. Wheat Cultivation The aim of wheat cultivations is to produce a level, weed-free, well-compacted seed bed with the minimum of operations. The Scheme's agricultural engineers have devised methods of obtaining seed-beds with implements which are already owned by private owners. This has been a valuable interim measure, but the wide level discs (which have been fairly widely demonstrated by the Village Farming Experiment) give such superior results that they should be regarded as the standard implement where pre-sowing irrigation is possible. It is thought that private owners will purchase an adequate number of wide level discs once they are con- vinced that wheat has found a permanent place in the Gezira rotation. Attachments to the wide level discs for applying fertilizer and sowing seeds during the second and final cultivation are satisfactory. Combine Harvesters for Wheat Combine harvesting of wheat presents no mechanical problems, although crossing the various banks of the messir imposes great strains on the chassis, making robustness of greater importance than low first cost. All of the present machines are "baggers" and contract prices are based on a "per bag" basis. Since it is ground speed rather than threshing capacity that limits working rates, a "per feddan'1 basis is recommended. A feddanage charge will benefit the good farmer who obtains high yields. 1/ The present application rate is two gallons of water/oil emulsion per feddan. This would be reduced to about two pints per feddan by theultra -low volume technique, reducing flying time per unit area by an average of about 60 percent.  ANNEX II - 9 - APPENDIX 3 "Tanker" combines, delivering the grain in bulk into lorries, may be practical in the future when the various participants have gained experience and can undertake the very detailed organization necessary; when the marketing system has been organized to handle bulk consignments instead of farmers' identifiable sacks; and when the railways provide bulk transport waggons (expected in connection with the new silos at Gedaref and Port Sudan). Obviously, a change to "tankers" will affect dura, as well as wheat, harvesting. It is recommended, therefore, that "bagger" combines should be encouraged for the next three to five years, after which the situation should be reviewed. The main difficulties with wheat combines are not mechanical but arise from the present status of the cooperative societies: arguments over priorities, the arrangements for supplying sacks and the customers! habit of hiding sacks to avoid fair payment, and the lack of trained sta,f. These difficulties can only be overcome by extension work. I OPERATIONS WHICH CAN BE MECHANIZED IN THE NEAR FUTURE Fertilizer Distribution The Board has assumed responsibility for spreading fertilizer on cotton during the present season. This is largely a security measure to prevent "leakage" of Joint Account fertilizer to other crops. Since the area is now spread by hand by contractors' laborers, with even less interest in the efficiency of the operation than the farmers, it is likely that the distribution will be even less uniform than previously. It is therefore recommended that the Board should arrange for mechanical distribution to improve uniformity. A large number of factors are involved: method of handling the fertilizer, i.e. in bulk or in bags, storage, organization of distribution from the ship to the field, choice of machline, the best compromise between width and uniformity of spread, etc. It is to be hoped that the Board will need to retain responsibility for spreading for a transitional period only. In time, the distinction between fertilizers for Joint Account and other crops will disappear, removing the element of security. As farmers come to appreciate fertilizer, the more efficient ones will arrange careful hand placement while the others will come to rely on private contractors for mechanical spreading. The method chosen should therefore be the simplest one which will meet the present need. It is therefore recommended that fertilizer should be spread in the dry season (whenever possible before dry ridging) using trailer spinning-disc distributors behind tractor trailers or lorries. About  ANNEX II - 10 - APPENDIX 3 70 spreaders will be needed and it is recommended that the Board should purchase them in view of the pressing need to improve distribution. The units would be:distributed, five to eight per group, and loaned or rented to contractors. In the long'term, the development of fertilizer spreading methods will depend on the outcome of field trials on the timing of applications. Late or split applications have increased yields on research crops, but on a large scale have not been more successful than a single dose. It is probable that research results will be found to apply in practice, when improved cultivations, etc. remove other limiting factors on crop responses. If the best current research techniques (a split application - one at planting and the other six to eight weeks later) are to be applied on a large scale, it seems probable that the second dose will have to be applied by hand. Soil and weather conditions at this time are too unpredictable to rely on tractor spreading. Aerial spreading is tech- nically feasible but the cost of obtaining aircraft for a single operation four to six weeks before the spraying season and of providing wet-season airstrips will probably prove prohibitive. Developments in packaging materials and the fertilizer itself, as well as the Government's intention to sponsor a fertilizer plant in the Sudan, will have a marked effect on the economics of the purchasing, handlir.g and storage of fertilizer. Moreover, the economics of aerial spreading will change as the number of Sudanese-owned agricultural aircraft increases.: The Scheme should therefore continue its present series of experiments with different types of spreader, including both bulk spreaders and aircraft. Groundnut Harvesting Excellent progress has been made in the development of techniques for groundnut harvesting. The lifter developed by the Scheme's agricultural engineer is very satisfactory. By permitting lifting without Dreliminary irrigation it opens the way to a change from Ashford to Barbeton varieties and to a reduction in labor requirement at a critical period. Commercial production (possibly utilizing spare capacity in the Board's workshops) and purchase by private tractor owners should be encouraged. Progress with windrowers, combines and threshers is encouraging and work should continue, at least at the present level, with the aim of introducing contractor services as soon as satisfactory, readily available machines are found. In the meantime, there is no virtue in widespread demonstrations of machines (e.g. groundnut threshers) which cannot be purchased in present circumstances. Small trial tests would however be in order.  ANNEX IT - 11 - APPENDIX 3 Land Levelling The basic levelling of land in preparation for irrigation is a part o