An Assessment of Farm Power and Machinery Workshops in Some Selected States in South East, Nigeria:- Onyekachukwu Chike .J

ABSTRACT

An investigative survey was embarked upon to assess  the condition of farm power and machinery workshops in three selected states in South East, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on the number and functional status of the workshops in the study area. The condition of facilities, tools/equipment used for operations as well as the number and status o available technical personnel were also studied. Results show that there are 10 functional workshops for farm machinery in the study area, out ofthe total workshops surveyed, making up 76.9% of'the establishments studied, who are involved in the use, maintenance and repair of agricultural machinery. 23.1% either do not have workshops at all or have abandoned their workshops due to dilapidated infrastructure. 92.3% of the establishments studied are government owned while 7.7% are owned by private individuals. 30.8% of the workshops studied have no  tools/equipment for their operations while 69.2% have inadequate tools. Craftsmen make up 36.5% of the technical personnel of the workshops in the study area, 34.1% are technicians,-  13.8% are technologist and 15.6% are engineers. The greatest problems facing the workshops are lack ol adequate tools/equipment for their operation and poor management. Efforts were made to suggest solutions to the problems facing the workshops. Some recommendations are also discussed.