Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Junior Secondary School 3

SUBJECT: BASIC TECHNOLOGY   

CLASS:  JSS3

DATE:

TERM: 3RD TERM

Reference Materials:

1. EVANS, Introductory Technology For JSS, Book 3.
2. NERDC, Introductory Technology For JSS, Book 3.

WEEK 4

TOPIC: DEVICES FOR PLANTING, HARVESTING AND STORAGE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.              

CONTENT 

• Introduction to mechanized farming
• Ploughing 
• Planting and Seeding
• Harvesting  
• Storage 

INTRODUCTION 

Good agricultural activities in the nation will enhance the social, economic and political development of the nation and make the nation independent on other nations. 

One major problems confronting us in agriculture is the stark reality that our agricultural practice has not changed that much from the labour-intensive and backbreaking practice it used to be.

Through mechanization, new lands and wild lands are being tamed: old lands are better tiller and tended with new forms of farming techniques. Through simple mechanization, a man is able to plant on many hectares of land per day; a task which may requires many men using ordinary cutlasses. Our farms can be larger with fewer farmers producing more to feed the people.

Tractor 

Our food processing industries will become viable due to the availability of locally produced raw materials. 

Mechanized farming 

• Tractor is an agricultural machine acting as power house to drive other agricultural implements hooked to it.
• Ploughing: The process of pulverizing, aerating and loosening the soil to supply good nutrients to new plant seedlings.
• Checkrow planting This an accurate and indexed placement of hills or groups of seeds to give rows in two perpendicular directions
• Picker-Sheller: A machine that cuts picks dehusks and shells corn

Evaluation 

1. Define farm mechanism 
2. State 4 mechanized farming equipment

Ploughing pulverizes, aerates and loosens the soil, to provide unused plant nutrients for new plant seedlings. Ploughing provides new and unused plant nutrients near the surface of the soil for the new plant seedling.

 Ploughing can be done locally by using hoes, animal-driven ploughs. It can be done mechanically tractor-driven ploughs. Ploughing can be done by using animal power or machine power, which typically involves hooking a plough to a tractor. Ploughing is about the hardest work that the farmer has to do.  Ploughing is labour-intensive operation. The energy required to plough depends upon the soil. It varies from the smallest value for the sandy soil to highest value for dry heavy clay soil.

Planting and Seeding

The main objective of planting is to deposit seeds or tuber in the soil at predetermined depth, and make sure the seeds are properly covered. Seed planting follows different patterns include:

1. furrow planting 
2. flat planting
3. bed planting
4. Bed planting-two per bed

A simple mechanical planter called auto-feed job planter designed and fabricated at the International Institute for Tropical Agricultural, Ibadan. Apart from planting seed, the system also applies fertilizer. The working components consist of spine, handle, fertilizer/seed funnel, spring, jaw arm, compactor arm and bracket, compactor pad, jaws and depth gauge  

Evaluation

1. State 4 planting patterns
2. State the functions of auto-job planter

Harvesting  

The method of harvesting depends greatly on the crop.

Corn harvesting involves picking dehusking and shelling. These processes can be done manually or by using machines such as picker-husker or picker-Sheller.

Harvesting of root crops such yam, groundnuts, cassava e.t.c. typically involves digging the soil and scooping it together with the crop, shaking to remove the clinging soil, stones and other debris, and finally retrieving the crop.

Storage 

Storage of most crops usually requires pre-drying to certain moisture content. 

Factors affecting the storage 

The moisture content of a freshly harvested crop is usually high. Freshly harvested corn contains about 20% of moisture, while fresh yam tuber contains more than 65% moisture.

Factors affecting the storage of a crop are: moisture content, temperature and oxygen. For proper storage a crop must be kept dry and cool.

Evaluation 

1. state the factors affecting the storage of farm products

AVERAGE MOISTURE CONTENT OF SOME LOCALLY PRODUCED CROPS

System for drying crops

In natural drying, air movement is by free convection. It is susceptible to losses arising from attack by insect and damage by weather. It is not also hygienic whereas in artificial drying, the air is forced over the product by a fan. In a heated air drier, the air is heated to certain temperature and then blown uniformly over the product. The temperature of the air must be kept below some maximum value depending upon the end-use of the product. For example, if the product is to be used for seed, it is usually recommended that a maximum temperature of 430C be used for drying.  

There are two basic types of storage system ventilated and non-ventilated systems. 

Storage devices 

In a refrigerated storage system, the material is stored either in cold storage or frozen storage.

There are two basic types of storage system: ventilated and non-ventilated .Non-ventilated systems are workable in dry climate where the m.c of the product is at, below, safe storage level. In a controlled atmosphere storage oxygen is replaced by inert gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide e.t.c.

.

Frozen storage: this is the process of storing a product at a temperature at or below its freezing     

Storage devices include the following 

1. Gourds for storing maize
2. Silo  for air-tight storage of grains
3. Nitrogen atmosphere tank for storing maize
4. Barns for storing yams
5. Cribs for storing maize

Evaluation 

1. State the reasons for using nitrogen atmosphere storing tank

Reading Assignment 

Read “DEVICES FOR PLANTING, HARVESTING AND STORAGE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.              

Reference Materials:

• EVANS, INTRODUCTORY TECHNOLOGY FOR JSS, BOOK 3, pages 194- 204

Weekend Assignment 

1. Good agricultural activities in the nation will enhance the following except (a) the social,(b) economic (c) political (d) sport
2. The following are machine for farming except (a) Tractor (b) Plough (c) Picker-Sheller (d) solar cell 
3. _____is an agricultural machine acting as power house to drive other agricultural implements hooked to it (a) Tractor (b) Plough (c) Picker-Sheller (d) Auto-job planter
4. The process of pulverizing, aerating and loosening the soil to supply good nutrients to new plant seedlings is called (a) Tractor (b) Ploughing (c) Picker-Sheller (d) solar cell
5. For proper storage, a crop must be kept (a) dry and cool (b) dry and hot (c) cool and wet (d) cool and frozen

Theory 

1. Define mechanized farming and state 4 machines for farming.
2. copy and complete the table below