Agricultural Science · Lesson 3

Farm tools, machinery, farm power and mechanisation

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: E1 Simple farm tools, E2 Farm machinery and implements, E3 Farm power and mechanisation

WAEC: C1 Simple farm tools (uses, care, maintenance); C2 Farm machinery and implements (tractor, plough, harrow, ridger, planter, sprayer, harvester, processing machines); C3 Maintenance practices; C4 Mechanisation (advantages, limitations, prospects); C5 Sources of farm power; C6 Workshop tools and safety

NECO: C1 Simple farm tools (uses, care, maintenance); C2 Farm machinery and implements (tractor, plough, harrow, ridger, planter, sprayer, harvester, processing machines); C3 Maintenance practices; C4 Mechanisation (advantages, limitations, prospects); C5 Sources of farm power; C6 Workshop tools and safety

What you will learn

Identify common simple farm tools and state their uses.
Describe the care and maintenance of simple farm tools.
Distinguish farm machines from implements.
Describe the main parts and uses of a tractor.
State the uses of ploughs, harrows, ridgers, planters, sprayers and harvesters.
Explain routine and periodic maintenance of farm machinery.
Define mechanisation and state its advantages and limitations.
Suggest ways of improving mechanisation in Nigeria.
Compare sources of farm power.
State safety rules in the farm workshop and when operating machines.

Key points

Simple tools: hoe, cutlass, axe, pick-axe, mattock, spade, shovel, fork, rake, sickle, trowel, watering can, secateurs, wheelbarrow, knapsack sprayer.
Tool care: clean, dry, oil, sharpen, repair handles, store in a dry shed, use for proper purpose.
Machine has its own power; implement is drawn or driven by tractor or animal.
Tractor parts: engine, radiator, battery, clutch, gearbox, hydraulics and three-point linkage, PTO, drawbar, brakes, tyres, filters.
Primary tillage: disc/mouldboard ploughs, subsoiler, rotavator. Secondary: harrows. Ridger forms ridges.
Sequence: clearing → ploughing → harrowing → ridging → planting.
Other machines: planter, seed drill, sprayers, combine harvester, sheller, decorticator, huller, grater, oil press, hammer mill.
Daily tractor checks: oil, water, fuel, tyres, battery, air cleaner, greasing.
Power sources: human, animal, mechanical, electrical, wind, water, solar.
Animal traction limited in the south by tsetse fly/trypanosomiasis.
Mechanisation advantages: larger area, timeliness, less drudgery, higher output.
Disadvantages: unemployment, compaction, erosion, pollution, high cost, accidents.
Problems in Nigeria: small holdings, land tenure, cost, spares, skills, topography, poor roads, low income.
Solutions: credit, cooperatives, hire services, local manufacture, training, land reform; NCAM Ilorin does mechanisation research.
Field capacity (ha/h) = width (m) × speed (km/h) ÷ 10.

Start here: Simple farm tools: identification and uses

Visit a farm near Ogbomoso, Abakaliki or Kafanchan at planting time and you will see the same small set of tools in almost every hand: a hoe, a cutlass, a basket and perhaps a watering can. More than any tractor, these simple tools still do most of the work on Nigerian smallholdings. WAEC Paper 3 often shows a picture or a real specimen and asks you to name it, give one use and one maintenance practice, so learn them thoroughly.

A simple farm tool is a hand-held, usually hand-operated instrument used for farm work. It is cheap, needs no fuel and can be made or repaired by local blacksmiths.

Tool	Main uses
Hoe (big and small)	Tilling, making ridges and heaps for yam and cassava, weeding, earthing up, harvesting tubers
Cutlass (machete)	Clearing bush, cutting stems and cassava cuttings, harvesting plantain, pruning, splitting
Axe	Felling trees, splitting wood, cutting thick roots
Pick-axe	Breaking hard ground, digging out stumps and stones
Mattock	Digging hard soil and cutting roots (one blade broad, one narrow)
Spade	Digging, turning soil, making beds, transplanting
Shovel	Lifting and moving loose soil, sand, manure or feed
Garden fork	Loosening soil, turning compost, lifting tubers with less damage
Rake	Levelling seedbeds, breaking clods, collecting trash and leaves
Sickle	Cutting grass, harvesting rice and other cereals
Hand trowel	Transplanting seedlings, filling polypots, small digging
Hand fork	Loosening soil around nursery plants, light weeding
Dibber	Making holes for seeds or seedlings
Watering can	Watering nursery beds and seedlings gently through the rose
Secateurs (pruning shears)	Pruning, cutting budwood and scions, harvesting flowers
Shears	Trimming hedges and lawns
Wheelbarrow	Carrying soil, manure, harvested crops and tools
Head pan / basin	Carrying soil, manure and produce
Knapsack sprayer	Applying pesticides, fungicides and herbicides
Hand-held go-to-hell (hook/slasher)	Slashing grass and weeds

Animal-husbandry tools are also tested: feeding and water troughs, drinkers, hoof trimmer, burdizzo (bloodless castrator), elastrator and rubber rings (castration and docking), ear tag applicator, ear notcher, drenching gun, hypodermic syringe and needle, debeaker, milking pail, egg tray, brooder and dehorning iron. These are covered again in ag10 and ag11.

Worked example 3.1 (WAEC-style practical)

Specimen A is a tool with a long wooden handle and a curved metal blade with a sharp inner edge, used for harvesting rice. (a) Name A. (b) Give two other uses. (c) State two maintenance practices.

(a) Sickle.
(b) Cutting grass for livestock; cutting weeds (accept: harvesting wheat or sorghum heads).
(c) Sharpen the blade with a file; clean and oil after use; store in a dry place; replace a loose handle.

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Practice questions

1. The best tool for lifting a seedling with soil round its roots is the

hand trowel
pick-axe
cutlass
mattock

Show answer

A: hand trowel
Trowels are for transplanting.

2. Which tool is used for felling trees?

rake
hand fork
secateurs
axe

Show answer

D: axe
Secateurs prune small branches.

3. The main reason for oiling metal tools before storage is to

make them lighter
kill termites
prevent rusting
sharpen them

Show answer

C: prevent rusting
Oil keeps out moisture and air.

4. The tractor part that drives a rotavator by rotation is the

fuel tank
power take-off (PTO) shaft
drawbar
radiator

Show answer

B: power take-off (PTO) shaft
The PTO supplies rotary power.

5. Primary tillage is mainly done with a

plough
harrow
ridger
planter

Show answer

A: plough
Harrowing is secondary tillage.

Key words

Farm tool: A simple, usually hand-operated instrument used for farm work, e.g. hoe, cutlass.
Farm machine: A power-driven piece of equipment used on the farm, e.g. tractor, combine harvester.
Implement: A device attached to and pulled or driven by a source of power (tractor or animal), e.g. plough, harrow.
Tillage: Working or stirring the soil to make it suitable for planting.
Primary tillage: The first, deep opening and turning of the soil, done with ploughs.
Secondary tillage: Lighter operations after ploughing that break clods and level the seedbed, done with harrows.
Ridger: An implement that throws soil into ridges.
Mouldboard plough: A plough whose curved mouldboard lifts and inverts the furrow slice.
Disc plough: A plough with concave steel discs that roll and cut the soil; good for hard, stony or root-filled soils.
Power take-off (PTO): A splined rotating shaft on a tractor that transmits engine power to implements such as rotavators, slashers and pumps.
Three-point linkage: The hydraulic hitch at the back of a tractor that lifts, lowers and carries mounted implements.
Drawbar: A bar at the rear of a tractor for pulling trailed implements.

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