Developing Appropriate Farm Technology for Smallholders
Case Study: Teff Row Planter
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Agenda
1. Situation
2. Approach
3. What we did
4. Challenges and way forward
5. Discussion
Situation: row planting and teff
• Row planting delivers significant yield increases
• GoE recommends a four-step process known as TIRR:
1. Make furrows 20cm apart
2. Apply fertilizer in furrow with hands
3. Apply seed in furrow using highland bottle
4. Cover seed and fertilizer with furrow-side soil
Situation: row planting and teff
• But, method is difficult and labor intensive
Situation: many prototypes
Situation: many prototypes
Situation: many prototypes, a few issues
One Acre Fund assessed 12+ prototypes available in Ethiopia (and one in Europe):
• Most are very expensive for smallholders (ETB 5000 to 12,000 euros)
• Most are not quite functional
• Many are too large and heavy to be transported easily between fields, making sharing difficult
• Manufacturing capacity for mechanical items is limited in Ethiopia
• Multiple spouts for multiple rows mean furrows must be perfectly spaced
All have failed to be adopted by farmers.
Our Approach: Human-Centered Design
Empathy
Tons of ideas
Lots of prototypes
Sharing prototypes with
customer
Innovative new solution
that works for customer
What is human-centered design?
It’s a process that starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor-made to suit their needs.
It’s all about empathy and letting the customer drive the design.
Many failures
Our Approach: Human-Centered Design
Our Approach: Human-Centered Design
What we did: Teff Row Planter
In 2015, we started working on this:
Hired a former bike-parts engineer
Spent a lot of time with teff
farmers
Bought, rented, or borrowed RP
prototypes
Gathered farmer opinions on prototypes
Assessed attributes & farmer ideas
Gave engineer a temporary workshop
Rapidly developed 100
prototypes
Tested prototypes with
staff
Tested prototypes with
farmers
Assembled 150 of the two that farmers liked
most
Distributed 150 planters to farmers for
planting
Observed, interviewed and
discussed w/ farmers
Refined and redesigned
planters
Tested improved prototypes with
farmers
Refined and redesigned
Rented a real assembly space
(2016)
Produced 5000 planters
(2016)
RCT with 5000 farmers
(2016)
What we did: Teff Row Planter
Affordable – farmers are price sensitive. We hope to sell for < 200 birr
No wheels – wheels make black soil planting difficult
Easy to use – mechanics are not available in many kebeles
Lightweight – often kids and women do teff planting
One spout – furrows are rarely the same distance apart
5 kg seed rate – farmers want the higher-end of the gov’t rec
Locally produced – assembled in Bahir Dar and made from ten components, four of which are imported.
What we did: Randomized Control Trial
4000 Crank units
1000 Pour units
Black soils: 5 kebeles x 500 farmers (2500 farmers total)
Red soils: 5 kebeles x 500 farmers (2500 farmers total)
Survey: 403 participants and 907 control farmers
What we did: Randomized Control Trial
Planters increased adoption of row planting by 14 percentage points
• Row planter makes row planting more comfortable
• Row planter is more precise than highland bottle so promises better yields
• People were excited to try a new technology
31% of farmers who took row planters home, used them
• Rains came early, reducing planting window and further constraining labor
Red soil adoption of planters was ~25% higher than black soil
• Heavy rains this year made it nearly impossible to walk in black soils
Way forward: addressing challenges
• Focus more on red soils
• Heavier marketing and promotionBlack soil adoption is
somewhat low
• Adoption survey + focus group discussions
• Sales trial in 2017 with 7000+ plantersPricing and demand
estimation
• Creating multi-row prototypes nowFarmers have to walk
40-50 km to plant 1 ha
• Redesigning and sourcing better crank piece
Crank can fall off after heavy use
• Trialing pre-plowing broadcast application of fertilizer
Fertilizer application still time-consuming
Other ideas???
Other questions, comments or ideas?
Thank you!