DEVELOPING AND APPLING A COMPUTER PROGRAMME TO EVALUATE FIELD MACHINERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AT KESSEM SUGAR ESTATE

Abstract

Agricultural machinery management system plays a great role in today's farming because of its importance in making a profitable farm return. But, in Kessem Sugar Estate, farm machinery management systems are poorly developed and lacks automation; the majority of machinery management work is done manually. This manual data processing hinders standard enforcement and quality in farming activities. As a result, this study was conceived with aim to investigate field machinery management system at Kessem Sugar Estate. The objective of the study was to develop and apply an appropriate computer programme system for the evaluation and improvement of field machinery management system at Kessem Sugar Estate. To achieve this objective study, interviews, observations, and semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data on Estate during the growing seasons of 2018/19, 2019/20, and 2020/21. Data obtained were analyzed using one way ANOVA at the significant level of 0.05. An agricultural machinery management system was developed. The result indicated that 38.44% of farm machinery was at good working condition while 35.44% was in bad working condition. The average calculated fuel and oil costs were greater than the actual fuel and oil costs by 58.44, 61.64, 58.19, and 77.75% during the three growing seasons for tractor and heavy-duty machinery, respectively. The calculated repair and maintenance costs, were lower by 64.95 and 58.45% during the three seasons for tractor and heavy-duty machinery, respectively. In addition to this, the study indicated that the ownership costs were 73.46 and 26.53 %, of the overall costs, respectively. It can be concluded that the farm machinery management system practiced in the Estate is poor. Hence, improvement is required in the areas of data collection and proper recording. Maintenance, repair, fuel and oil costs must be need to be recorded properly. Improving workshops capacity and capability, and training mechanics and operators to develop skill is the order of the day. Generally, it is important to improve the farm machinery management system at Estate