Agriculture Report - Simple Machines Make Life Easier for Poor Farmers

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English	Farming	However	Loon	Maize	V	With	and	around
at	else	farmers	faster	is	little	machines	planting	take	the
their	to	tool	would

without big machines is hard work. Planting and fertilizing alone can days in the hot sun. Researchers are working to develop simple to make life easier for farmers in the developing world. They also like to help the farmers save money. Jelle Van Loon testing a model of a hand-held planting tool designed for small-scale . It is a long metal hoe with just two flat teeth. each stroke, one tooth plants a seed; the other adds a fertilizerJelle Van Loon is not a farmer. He is an engineer the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. Mr. Van is working to develop low cost tools for small scale farmers the world. He hopes the tools will save them work, time money. Usually he starts with a piece of equipment built somewhere . An example is a hand-planter from Brazil. The long, wooden V-shaped has a piece of metal on the bottom for breaking up soil. Opening the arms of a part shaped like the letter loads seed and fertilizer into the metal tip. This tool is and costs less than planting by hand. It uses less seed fertilizer. It can also reduce by half the time required for and fertilizing a two-hectare farm. The planter still costs about $200 make. Jelle Van Loon thinks the final product will cost less. , he says, more work is needed. His team is now testing fourth version of the planter. Mr. Van Loon says the International and Wheat Improvement Center will publish plans for the tool on Internet after the group has finished its work. For VOA Learning , I'm Alex Villarreal.

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