In Nepal and Bangladesh for the last 13 years there has been a coalition of projects working to developed and promote resource conservation machine technologies in tillage and crop establishment targeting the Chinese 12-15 horsepower Donfeng type two-wheel tractors found in Nepal (9,000 2-wheel tractors and rotovators) and in Bangladesh (over 400,000 2-wheel tractors and rotovators). Essentially, the projects attempted to replace the two-wheel tractor’s normal 60 or 80 cm (18 or 24 blades) rotovator with the resource conservation technology attachments such as reduced till / strip till drill (model number 2BG6A), zero till drill, and bed planter. The very limited success in getting farmers/owners to consider replacing their normal rotovator has slowly led NAEF to begin to question the notions that the normal rotovator represents a traditional intensive plow. Indeed we now have evidence that the rotovator meets many of the economic and NRM requisites for being included as a resource conservation technology.

First is that the 'C' type blades used on a two-wheel tractors rotovators differ greatly from the 'L' type blades on a 4-wheel tractor rotovator in that they do not smear the soil at the bottom as the 'L' type do. Smearing creates even more of a plow plan that plant's roots have difficulty in passing below.

Secondly is the reduced volume tilled. Most scientists and engineers look at tillage from a single dimension…a flat surface and describe a tillage method as either full, reduced, strip or zero from the appearance on the top. What really needs to be assessed is not the area but the total volume. Though the rotovators on Chinese two-wheel tractors are capable of plowing 6 inches (15 cm)or more the average depth for plowing in south Asia for rice and wheat is 3 inches (8cms). Compare that with four-wheel tractors that till an average 6 to 8 inches (15 - 20 cms) deep (with 9-tine and disc cultivators and moldboard and disc plows).

Third is a large reduction in the number of tractor passes in comparison to conventional 4-wheel tractor and animal drawn land preparation. The average passes needed for a 4-wheel tractor in land preparation in Nepal and the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains of India is 6-8. For a pair of bullocks (oxen) it is up to 10 passes (one study has shown that a pair of bullocks and driver must walk over 100 kilometers to prepare one hectare of land for planting). For the Chinese two-wheel tractors the average number of passes is 3.

The reduction in volume tilled and reduced number of passes results in less energy and time needed to prepare a seed bed. The cost of preparing 1 hectare of land with 4-wheel tractor in Nepal is now over 4000 Nepali Rupees ((48 USD). It is similar price for renting a pair of bullocks. The price for renting a 2-wheel tractor for preparing one hectare of land is just over 2000 Nepali Rupees. This is where we find the farmer really decides to adopt or not.

THe reduced passes and reduced energy also comes in savings of over 40% diesel per unit area, an incredible savings to national coffers and to the environment/CO2 reduction.

So for all of the above reasons NAEF firmly believes that the 2-wheel tractor's rotovator deservedly qualifies as a resource conserving technology.