ITS BACK TO PLOUGHING - Ministry of Agriculture

Q. What powers the machine?Ans. The machine uses solar energy.Q. Can the machine function duringrainy days?Ans. Yes, it has energy storage in thebattery that can last three weeks.Q. Where can farmers get hold of thismachine?Ans. Quelea birds scarer machine isstill a prototype, we are still workingon it, for more enhanced features.Q. The noise emanating from themachine can cover how manyhectares in a field?Ans. It covers one hectare effectively,but if it is more than one hectaremore units can be availed to coverthe whole area or the machine’sloudspeakers can be spreadthroughout the field.Q. Is this technology well receivedby farmers?Ans. Farmers have shown muchappreciation of this machine,because the Quelea bird destroysmostly sorghum crops. Most farmerscannot wait to own the machine toenable them have crops in their fields.Q. Can you tell us more about thesounds incorporated in the machine?Ans. There are various types ofsounds in the machine. The soundsinclude that of different animalsmeant to scare the Quelea birds. Thesounds cause distress to the bird.The sounds were incorporated afterstudies of which noises the Queleabird was sensitive to.Q. Are there any security featuresprovided to avoid theft of themachine?Ans. We have not incorporated anyas yet but we are going to incorporatean alarm and a detector for intruders.Q. Where in the field is one supposedto position the machine?Ans. It is best to keep the machine inElias Kethobilethe middle of the field for it to coverthe whole area.Q. Are there any technical difficultiesthat one may encounter when settingup the machine?Ans. We will try to minimizethe technical difficulties, but weare going to educate agriculturalinstructors about the machine sothat they can be in a position to helpfarmers when and if they experiencesome difficulties.Q. When can farmers expect to putthis machine in use?Ans. I believe in a year’s time we willbe finished working on the machine.We are going to complete workingon this first machine then give privatecompanies to produce the machinefor sale.Q. How much would you say themachine will cost?Ans. It cost between P6000 andP7000Q. Is the machine operated manuallyor automatically?Ans. At the moment the machine isdesigned to operate manually andautomatically. The next phase of themachine will have a sensor/detectorthat detects movement of birds.Q. Why did you decide to use amachine that operates on solarenergy?Ans. The decision was inspired bythe energy crisis that Botswana isexperiencing of late.Q. During rainy seasons will themachine not get damaged by water?Ans. The machine has two partsthat are delicate, the battery and themain control box and these two arewell covered to protect from harshconditions.November 2010