Farm mechanization leading to more effective energy-utilizations for cassava and yam cultivations in Rivers State, Nigeria

Surveys have been conducted, under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs), in the 23 local-government areas of the Rivers State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire, personal visits to farms and interactions with information repositories were used. The quantities of energy consumed by tractors used in activities associated with the growing of cassava and yam crops in those areas were compared with traditional operations, using just manual labour. Within the period of 1986–2004, the total energy utilizations in the production of these crops, in the 23 local government areas, were 2738.87 and 33.5 MJ for tractor-power and traditional-manual operations, respectively. The tractorization intensity (TI) dropped from 0.352 hp/ha in 1986 to 0.345 hp/ha in 2004. This result was below the presently advocated 0.5 hp/ha for agricultural operations in order to increase crop production. This study identified the causes of this shortfall and recommended, at least for the short-term future, that farm industrialization of all sectors should be subsidized.