Abstract:
Beans are one of the most important crops in almost all -parts of Uganda& and they are appreciated throughout the developing world because they have long storage fife, good nutritional properties and can be easily stored and prepared for eating. They are rich of proteins, add nitrogen into the soil and can be grown in poor soils.
This study was undertaken to design, fabricate and evaluate the performance of a prototype planter- capable of planting common beans at predetermined spacing and depths. Seed metering device was designed to be interchangeable to allow for the different. varieties of beans. It is aimed to enable the rural farmers to improve on yield productivity and quantity of their crops thus enhancing the country’s food security status. The field tests included the determination of effective field capacity, intra-row spacing, number of seeds dropped and average. depth of planting. Three seeds were dropped on average, and intra-row spacing of 16:5 cm was obtained indicating a deviation of 1.5 from the required spacing of 15cm; and an average depth of 3.5cm was obtained. The planter had an average field capacity of 0.285 acres/hr, and efficiency of 66.7%. It was recommended that only properly cleansed seeds be used with this planter, it was also able to adequately meet the need of various. height of operator
The animal drawn bean planter is very simple. to use, the various adjustments are made with ease, and it is maintenance free, except for the bearings which needs to be lubricated from time to time to allow the planter's ground wheel to move freely.
