3.

Product planning and Task clarification

3.1. Statement of the Problem

Though Ethiopia is categorized as one of the most ancient countries which practice agricultural
policy, the development of the country in this sector is still poor and agricultural products are
below national requirements. The main reason for this problem is although the government is
trying replace the traditional method of farming with sowing in a line(row) the country is still
using traditional method of farming and the devices developed this days to aid this method are
not efficient and not familiarized with the farmers.

Traditional methods include broadcasting manually, opening furrows by a country plough

(Maresha) and dropping seeds by hand and dropping seeds in the furrow through a wood/metal
funnel. For sowing in small areas dibbling that is making holes or slits by a stick or tool and
dropping seeds by hand, is practiced. Traditional sowing and fertilizer distribution methods have
following drawbacks:

 In manual seeding, it is difficult to achieve uniformity in distribution of seeds and

fertilizers. A farmer may sow at desired seed rate but inter row and intra row
distribution of seeds is likely to be uneven.
 Poor control over depth of seed and fertilizer placement.
 Labor requirement is high because two persons are required for dropping seed and
fertilizer, even requirement of additional labor for covering the seeds.
 During sowing, placement of seeds at uneven depth may result in poor
germination because subsequent rains bring additional soil cover over the seed
and affect plant emergence.
 Uneven and inaccurate distribution of fertilizer which results in poor crop yield
and fertilizer management.
3.2. Requirements List

The task must be defined as fully and as clearly possible so that amplification and correction
during its subsequent elaboration can be confined to the most essential. A requirement list is
required to satisfy all the design constraints. This process represents the specification against
which the success of the design can be judged.

The following requirement list is prepared by considering the problems listed in the problem
statement part and it is believed that fulfilling this requirement list will solve the above problems.
Design agricultural implement that

 Meters seeds and fertilizers of different sizes and shapes;

 Place the seed and fertilizer accurately and uniformly at the desired depth in the
soil;
 Cover the seed and fertilizer, and compact the soil around it;
 Work at reasonable speeds without damaging the seed;
 Allows applying the seed and fertilizer in a wide range of rates; and
 Lets easy alteration of the application rate.
 is animal driven
 is not expensive
 is safe and easily operated by farmers
 is less weight
 is easily maintainable
 is easy for transportation from home to the farm land