| Author | Ngo Bunthan |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AE-96-09 |
| Subject(s) | Farm mechanization--Cambodia
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This study is based on data collected from rice farmers in four provinces in Southern Cambodia. Personal interviews of 244 farm families were conducted of the 3 groups of farm: power tiller farm, animal farm and farm with no draught power. Water pump use was also studied using information from the interviews. It was found that, most power tillers were used in areas that can grow rice in the dry season and villages where it was difficult to feed animals. Sixty percent of power tiller users began use this year .. The annual use of power tillers was still low, the average being 138.5 hours. The break-even area compared with animal of a new power tiller was 8.5 hectares. This was lower than the break-even area of secondhand power tillers which was 10 hectares. The cost of land preparation by using power tillers decreased with increasing annual use. Only 31 percent of power tiller owners can repair the machines by themselves, others were repaired in local shops, by a neighbor or in Vietnam. Nearly 50 percent of power tiller farmers annual use was more than the break-even area but only 25 percent had a farm size larger than the break-even area. Most power tillers farmers learned how to use the machines by themselves. Nearly 50 percent of power tiller farmers were land preparation contractors after finishing their own land. At current prices, farmers need to sell about 11 tons of paddy rice to buy one 11 kW Chinese power tiller and power tiller farms need to grow less than one complete crop to buy a power tiller, but for farmer with no draught power the required number of crops was much higher. More than 50 percent of the interviewed farmers had water pumps. The annual use of seventy percent of the farmers who had their own water pumps, was higher than the break-even time, which was 125 hours per year, compared with the custom rate of water pump contractors. |
| Year | 1996 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Gee-Clough, D.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Salokhe, Vilas M.;Tinsley, R.L.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Austria; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1996 |