Farm power and mechanization for small farms in sub-Saharan Africa Agricultural and Food Engineering technical report Series, Vol. 3

Many previous publications on farm mechanization, draught animal power, hand tool technology, etc. have tended to be narrowly focused. They dealt with tractors, or with draught animal, or with intermediate technology. The topic of farm power and mechanization also tended to be separated from the actual process of growing crops. As a result, there was a widespread lack of understanding of the topic and there were many widely held misconceptions regarding the essential contribution of farm power and mechanization to small farmers' livelihoods and living conditions. This manual breaks away from this rather narrow approach by putting the different sources of farm power, mechanization, machines, equipment and tools in a much broader context. Farm power requirements need to be viewed with reference to rural livelihoods and to farming systems as well as to the critical area of labour saving in HIV/AIDS-hit populations. No one particular type of technology is advocated.