1.1 Introduction
A solar seed sprayer machine is designed for small farmers to improve their productivity. In this machine a common seed storage place is introduced to reduce the cost of the machine. A sprayer is a mechanical device used to spray liquid like herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers to the crops to prevent pests or insects from destroying the crops. Sprayer provides optimum utilization of pesticides or any other chemicals with minimum efforts and less cost. Farmers normally use hand or fuel operated sprayers to perform this task. This traditional spraying method causes user fatigue due to excessive bulky and heavy construction (Arunkumar M., 2015).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Today’s era is marching towards the rapid growth of all sectors including the agricultural sector. To meet the future food demands, the farmers have to implement the new techniques which will not affect the soil texture but will increase the overall crop production. Agriculture has been the backbone of the Indian economy and it will continue to remain so for a long time. The government of India appointed a commission to assess the feasibility of increasing the crop productivity under prevailing Indian ecological conditions. The basic objective of planting operation is to put the seed and fertilizer in rows at desired depth and spacing, cover the seeds with soil and provide proper compaction over the seed. The recommended row to row spacing, seed rate, seed to seed spacing and depth of seed placement vary from crop to crop and for different agricultural and climatic conditions to achieve optimum yields and an efficient planting machine should attempt to fulfill these requirements. In addition, saving in cost of operation time, labor and energy are other advantages to be derived from use of improved machinery for such operations. A traditional method of seed sowing has many disadvantages. Our proposed “Solar seed sprayer machine” is used to sowing seed easily. In this project an attempt has been made to provide the low cost planting machine and also it reduces the human effort.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to Design and Fabricate a Solar Powered Seed Sprayer Machine.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed the drawbacks in the existing seed sprayer machine are rectified successfully in our machine. It will be more useful for small farmers and the agricultural society. Thus solar operated automatic seed sprayer machine will help the farmers of those remote areas of country where fuel is not available easily. And also they can perform their regular cultivation activity as well as saves fuel up to larger extent. At the same time by using solar energy environment pollution can also be reduced.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to Design and Fabricate a Solar Powered Seed Sprayer Machine. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To design a low cost seed sprayer machine that will reduces the human farming effort.
- To development of solar powered seed spraying machine.
- To testing of development of solar powered seed spraying machine in actual agricultural farm.
- To construct a seed sprayer machine that will be used by all farmers such that they avoid diesel sprayers and without any maintenance cost, they can use it.
1.5 Significance of Study
The solar operated automatic seed spraying machine will help the farmers of those remote areas of country where fuel is not available easily. And also they can perform their regular cultivation activity as well as saves fuel up to larger extent. At the same time by using solar energy environment pollution can also be reduced.
This study will be of immense benefit to farmers, academic students in agricultural science/engineering and other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on Design and Manufacturing of Solar Powered Seed Sprayer Machine in Nigeria.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
