During our first morning session at the 2017 ECHO International Agricultural Conference Putso Nyathi presented on the findings of an ex-post evaluation of Conservation Agriculture programming. At the end of the talk she left us with this question: How can we make CA more attractive to farmers so that they apply on a large scale?
What are your thoughts?
I liked Putso’s idea of a hand pushed “ripper.” I am wondering if there is a model for making those some where in the community.
Joy, we’re looking for some resources for you on this. In the mean time @Stacy_Swartz found this great video from East Africa of one in use.
I would call that a middle-buster, not a ripper.
A ripper should make a narrow slit a foot or more deep with minimum soil disturbance. What would be cool would be a hand pushed or animal drawn set of rolling coulter blades (sharp blades, either smooth or rippled; basically a large pizza cutter :-)) to cut into the soil without disturbing it. One problem is that there needs to be enough weight on the blade to push it into the soil.