Manual punch planter's design and development for smallholder farmers

This paper presents the concept and design of a punch planter for smallholder farmers. The design and development of the planter was conducted using the design methodology approach in four phases: informational, conceptual, preliminary and detailed. Participatory inputs from a group of smallholder woman farmers from Lesotho were also considered. Smallholder farmers are responsible for almost 70% of food produced worldwide, but seedling technologies specifically designed for this public are rare. The majority of punch planters available are either too big or expensive, or adaptations from disc planters are needed, and requiring animal or tractor to pull it. Punch planters reduces the power demand in planting, being very suitable for conservationist practices. A prototype was manufactured with a novel seed metering unit able to individualise seeds and to work with seeds of different types and sizes. Field tests have been conducted, but more tests are needed to make it available for the market.