CHAPTER ONE
1. Introduction
Garlic (Allum sativan Linn) belonging to the onion family, has long been recognized all over the
world as a valuable condiment for foods. It is also popular for remedy or medicine for various
ailments and physiological disorders. Garlic has been cultivated for thousands of years in the
world which is native to Central Asia where it originated 5200 years ago. Ethiopia Garlic is
popular in the local and export markets. The raw fresh Ethiopia Garlic bulbs come from family
growers in the country. They contribute 95% of the whole garlic national produce. Ethiopia
exported 138,000 metric tons of garlic which was worth $420,000 in 2020. They only produce 16
tons of garlic crop from a single hectare in the good season by using spades and garden forks
which is not a mechanized practice. [Selina Mawucci, 2020]
Ethiopian garlic production is still relatively low because of a lack of improved varieties.
Because of absence of mechanized planting, garlic planting is done manually. Traditionally, the
garlic sowing is performed by dibber. The seeds (cloves) are put in the holes made by hand and
covered with a thin layer of soil. Man power requirement is very high for the garlic planting in
traditional methods, which, requires about 60 to 65 men for sowing one hectare in one day
because row and plant spacing in garlic is very narrow, in which the garlic cloves are sown in
well prepared soil at a depth of 5 cm with seed to seed spacing of 7.5 cm. Row-to-row spacing is
kept at 10 to 15 cm. [Brajesh et al, 2014].
In The sowing of garlic by traditional method, Due to requirement of high number of labors, crop
sowing is delayed in most of the cases. The standard or required spacing between row-to-row
and plant-to plant and depth of planting is not uniform. In manual planting for larger areas,
condition like soil moisture also change rapidly and it is not easy to hire the large number of
labourers for the planting of garlic. Planting of garlic cloves in adverse condition will affect its
germination which will ultimately affect the yield. Due to these reasons if the crop is delayed, the
garlic will not fetch good price in the market.
Garlic Planter is mechanized farming machinery designed and developed to perform planting of
garlic seeds with regular spacing in a row and at regular depth. A manually operated garlic
planter has been developed by Garg and Dixit in 1998 G.C. Two men are required one for
pulling and another for supplying the seeds. This planter does not have seed covering device, as
such, the germination was not very good. It has also been reported that sowing depth is not
uniform. The capacity of the seed hopper is only 3 kg due to which it requires frequent filling.
On the same principle, Singh and Yadav (2000) also developed a manually operated garlic
planter.
According to studies, the single-row manually operated garlic planter which has been started by
Garg and Dixit, consists of a planting mechanism and a hopper mounted over a vertical disc with
spoons on its face. The field capacity of the planter ranged between 0.03–0.04 ha.h-1. It was
highly labor-saving equipment as it required only about 83 man-h. ha-1 in comparison to
520man-h. ha-1 with traditional practice. (Garg et al., 1998).
Under intensive cropping, timelines of operation is one of the most important factors which can
be achieved if appropriate use of agricultural machines is advocated. To improve the productivity
of the crop, mechanized agricultural system are used and to achieve the best performance of the
machine, different modifications are developed and their limitation should be corrected from
time to time. due to its reduction of labor demand, uniform rate of production, simplicity, less
time consumption and high yield of productivity with low cost the machines are recommended to
be used and distributed in Ethiopia.
1.1 Statement of the problem
Garlic has higher nutritional and medical value as well as a higher demand in the market. A
single-row manually operated garlic planter is mechanized farming machinery designed and
developed to perform planting of garlic seeds with regular spacing in a row and at regular depth.
But its constructions have some side effects on the plantation of garlic seeds during operation. It
has two wheels and the furrow opener those are arranged inline. The major problem here is that
while sowing the garlic, the furrow opener follows the front wheel by opening the furrow by
which the seed is inserted from the metering device. Then the rare wheel running following the
furrow. During this time the rare wheel pressurizes the garlic under the furrow which causes a
deflection from their upright position. This deflection affects the germination of the garlic seeds
which affects the yield.
In order to overcome this problem, our project is trying to find a solution by using two rare
wheels the furrow opener in [Link] this cause there is no load is applied on the garlic seeds
under the furrow the wheels are designed by considering the space between rows. So this project
tries to design effective garlic planter machine which can be applicable in all geographical
position and can address all economic levels of the societies that can boost the production of
garlic as well as the profit from the production.
1.2 Objective of the project
1.2.1 General Objectives
The general objective of the project is to modify and design a single row hand garlic planter
which is applicable for all farmers that can reduce cost of production and boost yield and rate of
production.
1.2.2 Specific Objectives
To make detail design analysis of all the components of the machine
To design all the components by using the design analysis
To design the complete assembly of hand garlic planter machine by using all the designed
components.
To determine the overall cost required to produce the machine
1.3 Scope of the Project
The extent of this project is mainly to modify and design a manually operating garlic planter by
taking the case of Ethiopian farmers as a main consideration. It constitutes the detail design
analysis or calculations of each individual components of the machine including the modified or
added component. And also, it includes the design of all the individual components and assembly
of the machine using solid work software. and it covers also the overall cost analysis of the
project.
1.4 Significance of the Project
The successful completion and implementation of this project will benefit:
To reduce the deflection of the garlic seeds during planting
To reduce the garlic seeds decayed while their cover is removed due to the stress of the
wheel.
The farmers since it will make them to be able to use their agricultural land effectively with a
minimal labor cost and boosted production capacity leading to higher profit from the
production. In addition, it will minimize the physical pain on the farmers that may happen
due to a prolonged manual planting with uncomfortable condition. .
It also creates a job opportunity for the peoples in such a way that the small-scale
enterprises may use sowing by using this machine as a source of income.
It will benefit the country as a source of income due to export since, it increases the yield.
