1. Background
Rice value chain is one of the most mechanized in Kenya. Most of the rice farming operations have been mechanized right from land preparation to harvesting. However, each machinery has unique challenges that require to be addressed to improve machine efficiency and maximize on profits. Mwea irrigation scheme is endowed with availability of a wide variety of rice combine harvesters majority of which are FM World 88, FM World 102 and Kubotas. The machineries are primarily owned and operated by private service providers. The main challenge noted was rollers and belts for the combines were the main consumables because of often breaks downs. Secondly, quality of available belts was very poor, original V belts were not readily available and moving belt rollers spares do not last. It was against this background that a trial for use dependable belts was mooted with Bando chemicals ltd.
2. Feedback and outcome
To address the belts challenges belt piloting was done with two service providers; MRGM and Mr. John Njenga. MRGM was Kubota while Mr. Njenga was FM World 102 which he had used for two years. The dates installation was September for MRGM and 9th November 2023 for Mr. John Njenga.
After about a week the service providers had a very positive feedback about the belts. “The efficiency of my machine has greatly improved. Some of the commonly used belts are the threshing and main drive belt which are very expensive to buy and maintain. Sometimes they don’t even last a week and machine downtimes means lost income. I like these belts and other Service Providers are already enquiring on where to get the belts for their machines as well” Mr. Njenga Said.
On the other hand, MRGM had this to say. “our Kubota harvester is like it has increase horsepower unlike before. It picks up rice so well despite the wet conditions. It used to struggle a lot where rice was leaning aside and not upright. We are taking slightly shorter time per acre. I think we shall now order the Bando belts moving forward for our tractors and combine harvesters.” Said Mr. Githuku, MRGM workshop supervisor “We used to order our belts from Tanzania but now I think we have found a better and more reliable alternative.” He added
Data capture forms were shared with the two service providers to collect information on date of use, acreage, hours worked and odometer clock reading for a period of two to three months.
3. Way forward
Machinery service providers were keen to improve on efficiency and as a result quality was a very key consideration. Service providers were linked to Mr. Kiseli of Bando for assistance and acquisition of the quality belts. Continuous linkage and presence on and before the rice harvest season was critical especially in harnessing the intensive machines utilization. It was necessary to link the service providers to belt suppliers or local agents for continuous access and utilization