Field Performance Evaluation of a Seed Planter

Then National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) acquired a Chinese made easy-to-use single row planter through Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) in order to carry out field performance evaluation with the aim of possible adoption in Nigeria. The planter, at a walking speed of 1.43 km/h gave field capacity and field efficiency of 0.061 ha/h and 81% respectively. Also, the percentage of stand established and percentage of seed dropped were 47% and 90% respectively. The field performance revealed that the single row planter has the potential to eliminate the stress associated with the traditional method of planting if the metering device could meter the seed precisely as calibrated.