Feasibility study on possibility of local assembly of power tillers and manufacture of their substantial spare parts: the case of Dar es Salaam, Mororgoro, Arusha and Coast Regions

Agriculture plays an important role in poverty reduction, particularly in poor countries such as Tanzania where the majority of people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, but use of hand hoes is still in place. In order to keep up with the pace of agricultural modernization, use of appropriate technology has become inevitable. Power tillers are among agricultural implements which have proved successful in countries like Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, India and China hence, the same can happen in Tanzania as well. In Tanzania it has been found that the price of the imported Power tillers is too high for most of Tanzanians peasants to afford. By 2010 the retail prices of power tillers in Tanzania ranged between 6.7 million to 10 million Tanzanian shillings depending on the size/horsepower. The major reason for higher price is because power tillers are imported from abroad.In this study, the agricultural institutions and mechanical related organizations were surveyed. The survey was on outlining the capacity for local organizations on assembling and manufacturing of power tiller parts. Similarly the study observed the technical, marketing & financial and social viability for the project including factors that may affect the local assembling and manufacturing of power tiller parts. The results indicated that 91 percent of interviewed engineers/technicians were able to assemble power tillers while 96 percent were able to manufacture most of the power tiller parts.