Cassava Mechanization should not be Forgotten
release time 2020-05-08 14:13:57
Nantong FLW Agricultural Equipment Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Province transplanting mechanization engineering technology research center jointly developed cassava planting machinery. Recently, a shipment of the machinery exported to Southeast Asia.
The machinery combined with the local agronomic perfectly, during the process of cassava planting, it integrates stems flatting, ditching and planting. The configuration requirements for large or medium tractors, planting spacing of 1.0-1.2 m. The operation effect is good, so that local customers widely praised it and demanded it eagerly.
Cassava alias for wood sweet potato or sweet potato. It is one of the world's three major potatoes, and the world's annual output of cassava is more than 100 million tons. Cassava originated in tropical areas of America, it is widely cultivated in Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, Colombia, Indonesia and other tropical and some subtropical regions. The global cultivation area of cassava is about 15 million hectares, with an annual output of more than 200 million tons of fresh potato. There are about 600 million people in the world with cassava as the staple food.
In addition to consumption, cassava can also be used in stock feeding and industrial utilization. In recent years, cassava became the main biomass energy resources. Cassava is one of the major raw materials for starch production in the industry. It can be used as an important source in food, beverage, medicine, textile and paper making.
Cassava was first introduce to China in the 1820s, and it is now widely distributed in the southern areas of the country, the current cultivation area of cassava in China is about 500 thousand hectares, with an annual output of more than 18 million tons of fresh potato. In recent years, China's imports about 9 million tons of cassava powder annually.
But China's cassava production mechanization does not match its demand. Traditional cassava production is labor-intensive, especially in planting and harvesting, accounting for 12% and 61% of the total cassava production operations respectively. The high cost of production has limited the development of cassava industry. China's level of mechanization of cassava cultivation and harvesting is far below that of other major economic crops. As of data of 2014 shows that cassava cultivation and harvest is only about 20% to semi-mechanized.
There are 3 ways to plant Cassava: flat, oblique inserted and straight inserted. Artificial planting requires a smooth section of stems, stem length of 15-20 cm, the depth of 10-12 cm, and fill the soil after compaction. In 1966, there was a report on the mechanization of cassava cultivation. Brazil, Thailand, Nigeria and other countries had cassava planting machinery coming out. Some domestic research institutes have also introduced such machinery, digesting and absorbing foreign cultivation machinery technology. But in general, cassava planting machines in China have some problems in terms of planting quality, seed uniformity, mechanical adaptability, reliability and planting costs.
The current labor force engaged in agricultural production is increasingly scarce, coupled with the overlap of the harvest season of cassava and sugarcane, these problems have become increasingly prominent in China's hot area. The author believes that the natural conditions of cassava planting in China are quite different, the economic development is not balanced, the agronomic habits are different, and the demand for machinery is different. Therefore, it is necessary to speed up the research and experiment of planting mechanization route in different planting areas. Under current conditions in China, it is difficult for each farmer to household his own cassava planting machinery, the more feasible way is to develop agricultural social services.
Similar condition also exists in other fields of crops and vegetables. FLW is paving the way for mechanization of them.
