DESIGN OF AN INFIELD TRANSPORATATION SYSTEM FOR COCOA PLANTATION

An attempt was made to mechanize the infield transportation system in a cocoa plantation. A small trailer was designed and fabricated and used with a commercial 2-wheeled walking tractor modified into a 4-wheeled tractor-trailer unit to suit the plantation conditions. The transporter had a capacity of 800 kg and could be loaded with about 1000 cocoa pods at a time and was well within the towing capability of a 10 hp tractor. Time and motion studies were conducted on a 30 acre, 6 year old cocoa plantation intercropped with coconut to compare manual and the tractor-trailer combination in relation to infield transportation. The total time taken to harvest 80 trees manually was computed to be 24 manuhours per hectare whilst the tractor-trailer combination required 18manhours.