6 research outputs found
Design and Development of a Tractor-Drawn Multi-Row Garlic Planter
No full textGarlic (Allium sativum) belongs to the alliaceous family, in the same family as onions. Garlic is one of the most important crops widely cultivated throughout the world including Ethiopia. Garlic is widely used as a seed, for consumption and medicinal purposes. Despite wide use, many problems are not solved in the production system, among which planting technique seems the first. Due to the lack of a garlic planter system farmers still use traditional methods for planting garlic seeds, this traditional method is inefficient, tiresome, labour-intensive, and time-consuming. So by providing planting machines the above problems was eliminated and improve planting efficiency and garlic productivity. The main aim of this study was to design and development of a tractor-drawn multi row garlic planter capable of planting garlic seed. The following method was used, studying physical properties of garlic seed, design all of components, construction process, laboratory test and cost analysis. The developed tractor drawn garlic planter consists of hopper, feed cup, seed metering mechanism, furrow opener, ground wheel, three-point hitch and furrow covering device. The physical properties of two varieties of garlic were studied. The shape index of two varieties was 0.78 and 0.755. The angle of repose of two varieties was and . With a production cost of 16100.815 Ethiopian birr, the garlic planting machine can assist the farmers to save time, reduce planting operation cost and prevent drudgery of labour. Creating a good platform for the farmers to adopt and use the garlic planter effectively and efficiently should be considered by the policy makers.
Key words: Design, development, Garlic planter, cost analysis.
 
Investigation of Soil Physiochemical Properties Effects on Soil Compaction for a Long Year Tilled Farmland
No full textIn many parts of the world, the earth has been heavily compacted as a result of large farm equipment. For soil compaction, the main constituent factors were soil physiochemical properties such as soil texture, moisture content, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, total organic carbon, organic matter, total nitrogen, and soil pH directly and indirectly. This article addressed the causes and effects of soil compaction, operating parameters, and soil physicochemical properties in the Bishoftu long year tilled farmland of Ethiopia. For the experimental test, 5 different depths (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 cm) and fifteen sample points were selected in 0.6 ha of 60 m by 100 m farmland for taking soil compaction data. Soil samples are taken from three depth ranges (0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm) from farmlands for investigation of soil physicochemical properties. The maximum and minimum values of the cone index of this study were 1918.133 kPa and 864.733 kPa, respectively, by taking the average of all sample points. The soil laboratory result shows that Bishoftu farmland soil is a mixture of loam, clay loam, and sandy clay loam with 47.33% of sand, 25.67% of clay, and 27% of silt. The maximum and minimum percentages of soil moisture values were 27.02 and 21.46 at 0–10 cm and 20–30 cm depth, respectively. Total organic carbon, organic matter, and total nitrogen exhibit positive relationships with depth and soil compaction. The correlation analysis indicates soil pH, electric conductivity, percentage of sand, cation exchange capacity, organic matter, and total nitrogen were among soil physiochemical parameters that are positively correlated with soil compaction. Furthermore, the percentage of clay, percentage of silt, and total organic carbon (p≤0.05) are negatively correlated with soil compaction in soil samples
Modelling and Simulation of Hydraulic System to Measure Soil Compaction for Agricultural Field
No full textSoil compaction is one of the negative factors associated in the top layer of the soil by heavy agricultural machinery in the agricultural field that limits ploughing tool movement, plant growth and crop yield. Soil compaction has been conventionally measured by using a manual operated cone penetrometer which has certain ergonomically restriction tackled by the operator, it takes more time and difficult to obtain compaction data. The study aimed to design and develop a hydraulic system to measure soil compaction for agricultural field, to simulate soil compaction measuring system using MATLAB Simulink 2018 and to analyze the simulation output. The modelling and simulation include the hydraulic system used for actuate the compaction measuring cone penetrometer by considering the vertical force coming from double acting hydraulic cylinder as variable mass and the soil as a stiffness and damping property. From the simulation output, the hydraulic performance based on soil compaction measurement with the parameters such as hydraulic pressure as cone index, depth of operation, hydraulic torque, and power were analyzed. The time required for the cylinder extension to insert the cone penetrometer to the soil was 3.3 seconds with the maximum speed of cylinder extension of 0.3 mm/s. The maximum downward penetration resistance was 0.3 N. The pressure varies from 24 Pa to 38 Pa during extension of the cylinder and 0 to 15 Pa during retraction with the maximum flow rate of 3.8 × 10-6 m3/s. The relationship between hydraulic power and flow rate is directly proportional. Hydraulic torque and flow rate have inversely proportional relationship
Influence of soil physical and chemical characteristics on soil compaction in farm field
No full textFarm soil compaction is influenced by animal loads and Agricultural machinery. In this paper the influence of soil physical and chemical characteristics on soil compaction at Awash Melkasa farm field. Compaction of soil test was taken at five different depths which are; 5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm, 20 cm, and 25 cm with the help of a hydraulically operated cone penetrometer. Those five depths were used in 15 sample points (point A to point O) to take 75 soil compaction data using hydraulic powered a Spot-on digital soil cone penetrometer from an area of 0.6 ha farmland. A correlation of 15 sample points (A to O) of soil compaction in the field was performed. For soil physical and chemical tests in laboratory soil samples were taken from selected farm fields at 3 different ranges of depths (0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm). Averagely the highest and the lowest compaction values are 3947.32 Kpa and 2667.72 Kpa respectively. The soil texture laboratory test indicates the soil was a clay loam with 36.74 % sand soil, 30.31 % clay soil, and 33 % silt soil. The highest and the lowest percentages of moisture value were 13.97 and 16.04 respectively. Total organic carbon, organic matter, and total nitrogen increase as the soil compaction increases and vice versa. The output of this study adds value to the field of agricultural mechanization since the weight of machinery is high, knowing the soil's physical and chemical properties and investigating the relation with the soil compaction rate is necessary
Potential of the E-Pusher as Transport Mode in the Dutch Carbon Capture and Storage System
No full textCarbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is considered an essential solution to reaching climate goals. The two main identified transport modes in CCS, pipelines and ships, are widely compared to each other in the literature. This research contributes to the literature about the evaluation of transportation modes in CCS chains, by determining to what extent electrified ships can play a role in CCS. This is not studied before. This research is executed by following the Systems Engineering approach, in particular the SIMIE process. In a proposed point-to-point network for onshore transportation, mainly general diesel-propelled barges would perform with the lowest costs per ton, whereby the distance ranges from 25 km up to 250 km. As longer the distances, more Tank-to-Wheel (TTW) emissions savings could be obtained if barge transport is electrified. Identifying the most accurate emissions reporting method and performing operational validation for modelling the transport modes and trajectories could provide the obtained results with more scientific and practical robustness.Transport, Infrastructure and Logistic
Ethiopia’s Hate Speech and Disinformation Prevention and suppression Proclamation: The Need and Compatibility with International Human Rights Standards.
No full textThe claim of preventing and suppressing hate speech and disinformation inextricably linked to
the roots of contemporary international human rights discourse. Article 19(2) of ICCPR
recognizes that everyone has the right to freedom of expression. However freedom of expression
can be limited on the grounds of hate speech and disinformation since they can cause harms to
other human rights. Accordingly, Ethiopia is under obligation by cumulatively looking at Article
13(2) of the FDRE constitution and Article 20(2) of ICCPR to confront any advocacy of national,
racial and religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence by
law. Ethiopia has no comprehensive law regarding hate speech and disinformation though there
are some provisions directly or indirectly related to them by analyzing the existing domestic
laws. Hence, she has enacted hate speech and disinformation prevention and suppression
proclamation No.1185/2020.But this proclamation must be with in strictly defined parameters
for limitation of freedom of expression as stated under article 19(3) of ICCPR. Accordingly, the
author by assessing the Ethiopia‟s existing laws and international human rights laws has found
that the above proclamation leads to a kind of double warning since some of its provisions are
already provided and is incompatible with international human right standards such as legality,
legitimacy, necessity and proportionality standards and the widely accepted international norm
the Rabat Plan of action
