Giving voice to the farmers, machine operators, local service providers and small scale manufacturers in designing scale-‐appropriate agro-‐machinery for Rural Bangladesh: A Case study By Sharmistha Banerjee Assistant Professor, Department of Design, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India, 781039
[email protected] This case study describes the Human Centered Design (HCD) approach adopted to re-‐design a two-‐wheeled hand held and operated power tiller (2WT) based agro-‐machinery, Bed Planter (BP), suitable for low-‐income farmers possessing small farms, which are typically less than a third of an acre, in South of Bangladesh. The HCD process attempted to rope in the voices of farmers, machine operators, local service providers (LSPs) and small-‐scale manufacturers in not only ascertaining their current difficulties, needs and aspirations but also in the design of the machine. The HCD process also took into account local small-‐scale manufacturer’s manufacturing capabilities and ways to enhance the same so as to enable local manufacturing of the product and create employment opportunities thereby. In short, it describes an attempt to collaboratively work with the grassroots, build empathy and co-‐design. The case study describes the semi-‐structured interviews, contextual inquiry, co-‐creation workshops and mock-‐training sessions conducted with all the involved value chain actors and the learning made in the process. The assignment is part of the project ‘Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization and Irrigation’ (CSISA-‐MI). [1] CSISA – MI is a project partnered between International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Bangladesh and International Development Enterprise Bangladesh (iDE-‐B) and is funded by the USAID Mission in Bangladesh under President Obama’s Feed the Future (FtF) Initiative. The assignment used the BP developed by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and its reverse engineered version by a local workshop owner as the starting base. Keywords: Scale-‐appropriate agro-‐machinery, Human Centered Design of agro-‐machinery, Empathic Design, Co-‐ design 1. Background of the Study [2] Bangladesh has adopted scale-‐appropriate agricultural machinery to a good extent. The penetration of mechanization has occurred mostly due to farm labor shortage in the country. The country has many farm equipment based on 2 Wheeled Power Tillers (2WT). A 2WT-‐based BP is shown in figure 1. The cost and scale of operation is very suitable for small farms in the country.
Figure 1: Sifang 2WT based BP
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Figure 2: Beds made by BP
BARI has done pioneering work in the country in the field of mechanization. [3] They have successfully developed a Dongfang make 2WT based BP (D-‐BP). BP is a machine, which first ploughs the field, then applies seed and fertilizer in furrows and finally creates the bed (Figure 2). Bed planting is a method of crop establishment in which long elevated beds are made and seeds are planted in them. The beds alternate with furrows, which are used for irrigation and for improved field access. Figure 3 shows the various parts of the BP and their functions.
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Center, International Maize and Wheat Improvement. 2014. Bed Planter. Photo. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cimmyt/14152202358/.
Figure 3: BP parts and their functions The case study is initiated under the auspices of iDE-‐B and CIMMYT. They are actively working in the field of mechanization and irrigation in South Bangladesh under the project CSISA-‐MI. In this part of the country, Sifang make of 2WT are the most common. A very ingenious local workshop owner, Mr. Oli Hujjur, reverse engineered the BARI BP (D-‐BP) and converted into a BP for the Sifang make 2WT (S-‐BP). 50 S-‐BP were made and put up for sale through distributors by iDE-‐B and CIMMYT. But unfortunately sales could not be materialized. The interesting point to be noted here is that bed planting as an agronomic process is popular in the country. In the absence of commercially available machinery to perform the operation, farmers were doing bed planting manually. Hence it was anticipated that when a machine is introduced in the market, it would sell pretty well. Further, iDE-‐B and CIMMYT have considerable experience in this field in the country and have been quite successful in their endeavors. Thus the aim of the assignment undertaken was to understand the human centered aspects as well as technical aspects around the BP, which was responsible for sales failure. [4] The study was based on principles of Empathic Design, ie., observing customers to identify their latent needs so as to be able to create products and services that they don’t even know they desire or, in some cases, solutions that customers have difficulty envisioning due to lack of familiarity with possibilities offered by technology or because they are locked in “business as-‐usual” mindset. Empathetic design relies heavily on keen observation of real people under real-‐life usage situation to identify their knowledge, abilities, needs, aspirations, desires, frustrations and expectations. Empathic Design approach, in this project, was expected to be able to capture the underlying reasons behind the failure and to be able to co-‐design with the stakeholders an innovative solution out of the existing design in a short span of time. 2. Methodology [5] The study was conducted in four phases as per empathic design framework recommended by Kouprie and Visser [2009]. The phases are: 1. Discover: entering the user’s world and achieving willingness; 2. Immersion: wandering in the user’s world and taking on user’s point of reference; 3. Connection: Resonating with the user; 4. Detachment: Leaving the user’s world and designing with user’s perspective. The investigation was initiated with two pronged focus: one, human centered aspects covering socio-‐economic conditions, aspirations, ergonomics, knowledge and abilities; two, engineering aspects of machine design and manufacturing. This case study talks about the first aspect in greater detail. The second aspect is touched upon lightly only in the context of training and manpower development. 3. Discover: entering the user’s world and achieving willingness To delve into the scope of exploring different facets of the human centered aspects involved, a series of semi-‐ structured interviews were conducted. The aim of the semi-‐structured interviews was to understand who all are the key stakeholders, their strengths, ambitions, needs, desires, expectations, pain points and limitations. The role of the researcher was to act as patient listener and encourage the stakeholders to speak out. All the interviews were conducted in the native language, Bengali. In some cases, where foreigners were involved, the conversation was conducted in English. Whenever the conversations involved farmers, LSPs, operators, workshop workers and
owners, the dialogues were conducted in Bengali so as to rule out any hesitance in speaking out. From the semi-‐ structured interviews, a stakeholder picture was drawn out and is presented below: 3.1 Insights from semi-‐structured interviews This phase identified the following most important stakeholders, their roles, interests and concerns. †
1. [1] CSISA -‐MI aims to drive conservation agriculture through precision equipment. One of this equipment is the BP. It builds on lessons learnt and opportunities identified by the existing USAID-‐funded CSISA project in Bangladesh. While CSISA focuses on adaptive technology testing, deploying new crop varieties, training farmers, and facilitating output markets, CSISA-‐MI goes beyond this to focus on upstream market interventions to ensure that technologies needed for agricultural intensification are sustainably available through local markets. CSISA-‐MI is implemented by CIMMYT and iDE-‐B. 2. [6] IDE-‐B works in the creation of income and livelihood opportunities for poor rural households. It co-‐ordinates the design, development, training, manufacturing and marketing of the BP alongwith CIMMYT. It is concerned about the low quality of the BP and its lack of sales in the market. In order to achieve the sales target in collaboration with CIMMYT, it wants to quickly develop and start manufacturing a robust BP. 3. [7] CIMMYT is a non-‐profit research and training center, which strives to improve agricultural yield of maize and wheat. [8] A new CIMMYT book, Made in Bangladesh: Scale-‐appropriate machinery for agricultural resource conservation, highlights the innovative machinery that can be used with two-‐wheeled tractors (2WT) for sustainable farming and gives detailed technical designs to help standardize production quality, making the machines more accessible to farmers. It co-‐ordinates the design, development, training, manufacturing and marketing of the BP alongwith iDE-‐B. It is also concerned about the low quality of the BP and the fact that it is not selling in the market. In order to achieve the sales target with iDE-‐B, it also wants to quickly develop and start manufacturing a robust BP. 4. Janata Engineering (JE) under the proprietorship of Mr. Oli Hujur has taken the initiative to replicate the BP design presented to them with the help of CIMMYT and iDE -‐B. In future he might be one of the key manufacturing partners for not only the BP but also other agricultural machinery being promoted by CIMMYT, CSISA -‐MI and iDE -‐ B. The main concerns of JE were to make the BP more sturdy, earn profits through sale of BP and its spare parts, gain repeat business orders for this and other agro-‐machinery, meeting production demands, creating dies for mass manufacturing and ensuring better quality of production. The proprietor is strongly motivated towards making a positive impact in the growth of his motherland. 5. The farmers are being encouraged either to own a BP themselves (who in turn can offer the services to other farmers) or to hire the services of it from a Local Service Provider (LSP). During a discussion session with five farmers in Chuadanga and five in Khulna, it was noticed that overall the farmers are very enthusiastic about the method, bed plantation. They have also tried making beds manually. They were concerned with the unreliable seeding happening with the BP. Thus they wanted to get beds made but plantation was being done manually. They were happy that a BP can make their entire ploughing and plantation activity cheaper and independent of timely availability of labor. 6. The operators are farmers, LSPs or operators employed by the farmers or LSPs. Three operators were interviewed in Chuadanga of which two were operators only while one was a farmer as well. In Khulna, 3 LSPs who were operators themselves were interviewed. They operate, repair and maintain the BP. Their main concern was the heavy weight of the S-‐BP, which made it physically strenuous to operate it. Many of them reported contracting fever the day after operating the machine while others complained of shoulder and hand pain. Many would operate the machine only on alternate days. They found the machine very difficult to understand due to the large number of adjustment possibilities. They were unable to understand which was the best-‐suited setting combination. They were also unaware of agronomic practices and hence unable to make out relationships between soil conditions, seed concerned and bed planter settings. The operators were also not very extensively trained in the BP usage leading to operational problems.
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Conservation agriculture is a set of principles that build on systems agronomy research developed by CIMMYT and partners around the world, particularly on cropping methods that simultaneously boost productivity and reduce resource degradation in cropping systems that include maize or wheat.
7. 3 LSPs were interviewed in Khulna. They are the people who buy the machine and often are the operators too. The current LSPs have not bought the machine but have been provided with one under CSISA-‐MI project. LSP pays for the machine maintenance and the running cost of the machine and hence is looking for more robust equipment whose spare parts are locally available. His interest is that the machine should be seen as one suitable for making only beds as well as for bed planting. The machine should be capable of handling sunflower as well due to the big market for the same in the region. At this moment the machine can’t handle sunflower beds and has no seed meter for it. One operator had designed his own wooden seed meter for sunflower. He is concerned about the low quality of the machine, constant breakdowns, no local spare part availability and lack of farmers’ trust in the machine. These contribute to his hesitance in buying the BP. 8. One dealer was interviewed in Chuadanga. The dealer serves as the link between the manufacturer and the LSPs (buyer). He promotes the machine in his region. His interest lies in selling good quality machine and thereby earn credibility amongst the buyers so that he/ she can sell more agro-‐machinery. He is concerned about the low quality and reliability of the current machine (2 S-‐BP were sold but returned soon after) due to which his reputation in the market has suffered as well. He also mentioned that the BP looks more like a test rig and less like a desirable product. Another interesting aspect that came out during this phase of the study was that the D-‐BP was more robust and less problematic product than the S-‐BP. It was so due to the iterative technical design process already undertaken by BARI. The S-‐BP was released in market without such extensive testing and design iterations. Also the operators of S-‐BP were much less trained and hence struggled with the machine more (both S-‐BP and D-‐BP). The operators of D-‐BP who were extensively trained by BARI and had considerable years of experience in operating the D-‐BP were better at handling the machine. Thus they reported much better performance of the machine. Also certain issues arose due to the make of the 2WT on which the BP was built on. The difference between the Sifang and Dongfang make 2WT was in their weight distribution. The Sifang is heavier on the rear due to the engine being little behind. Thus the ergonomic difficulties of operating the S-‐BP are much higher. Due to the physical difficulties of operating the BP, which even made the male operators sick, it was obvious that female operators would hardly turn up for the BP. Thus female labor that dominates the manual seed sowing market will be out of job. Various researchers have reported this phenomenon of female labor disappearing from farms due to mechanization and henceforth causing degradation in their socio-‐economic status [9]. It was also observed that agro-‐machine ownership was seen as a status symbol. The farmers, operators, LSPs and the dealers all aspired for tractors and the performance that they can deliver. The 2WT-‐based BP was looked down upon in terms of status and performance. The economics of bed planting was worked out at 400 Taka (~5 USD) for 1 Bigha (0.1338 ha) of land. From the farmer’s point of view, this is very attractive, as manual labor would have cost him much more. The operator usually takes his sister or wife to help him in the operation. Thus 400 Taka for diesel (transporting the machine to the farm and operation), two operators, machine maintenance and LSPs return on investment does not appear economically attractive enough for the LSPs and operators. This was currently not recognized as a problem by the LSPs as the machine is not bought by them. But once the machines are bought, operated and solely maintained by them, this can become a concern. Some of the farmers also mentioned that they had decided to buy the BP but had subsequently heard that the Government is planning a subsidy on the machine and hence decided to wait for it. Some farmers also felt that lot of free demonstration of the machine had been done and this trend will continue. Hence they did not want to purchase it. The stakeholders also mentioned word–of–mouth spread regarding low quality of the machine, which had made the market skeptical about the BP. 4. Immersion: wandering in the user’s world and taking on user’s point of reference Next, on-‐field tests of the machine operation, manufacturing, assembly and disassembly were conducted to identify the technical and ergonomic issues surrounding the BP and bed planting as a process. On-‐field structured interviews were conducted with operators, farmers and LSPs while the machine was in operation to understand their concerns and expectations.
4.1 Insights from on-‐field BP tests An initial assessment of the machine shows that it is a pretty good design from agronomic requirement fulfillment point of view. It achieves ploughing, seeding and bed making. Some manufacturing and material specification redesign was all that was needed to set right the few technical issues. The machine also allows several different setting possibilities (figure 4 – 7), which are very essential for a machine to be used by agricultural scientists. Scientists can set the machine at multiple parameters and test its performance. But the same machine due to its possibility to be set at such huge number of variable settings becomes confusing and difficult for an illiterate or semi-‐literate operator. They need straight – forward instructions and simple interfaces. During the on-‐field tests, it was observed that the operator kept on struggling to put the BP on the right combination of setting (Figure 10). Also to ease lifting of the machine at the turns (Figure 9), one would tie up a bag full of sand on the front of the machine (Figure 8). The visual impact of these aspects on the on-‐lookers was a less reliable and machine full of hassles. There were other technical issues, for instance, the seed dispensing was inconsistent, which led to the seeds not falling at the recommended 20 cm ± 5 cm gap; use of poor quality materials and inappropriate manufacturing techniques led to the frequent breakdown of the components, parts and the machine itself. These further reduced the sense of reliance on the machine. On-‐lookers felt it might be ‡ very difficult to operate the machine or may be the machine is broken or is just a piece of local Jugaad . Thus the machine was perceived inferior. The farmers and operators kept on comparing its performance to those of tractors and wishing for one.
Figure 4: The difficult to comprehend number of possible combinations for setting the ploughing depth of the rotary blades and on the basis of that adjusting the seed box inclination. Then the chain tensions need to be adjusted appropriately.
Figure 5: The bed shaper cone Figure 6: The furrow opener can Figure 7: Depending on ploughing depth, can be set for different bed sizes be set anywhere in the given slot the furrow opener depth hole needs to be selected The BP, at the end of each line on the field, needs to be lifted up from the rear, rested on the front wheels and 0 given an 180 turn by holding one cutch (Figure 9). Because of small field size, this lifting is to be repeated very frequently causing fatigue and pain to the operator. Hence it was difficult to find operators. Also it was observed during operations, that lot of soil dust is generated. More dust is generated because operators remove the mudguard to see if the seeds are dispensing or stuck in the delivery pipe. Dust was being inhaled by them and was also getting into their eyes. This might be another reason behind operators’ feeling of physical discomfort at the end of the day. But during on-‐field interviews and co-‐design sessions (discussed in next section), mostly they said that they are hardy people and not bothered much about dust. None found reduction of dust as very important in the new design. During the interviews and co-‐design sessions, some of the operators wanted the weight to be
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Jugaad Innovation Definition from Financial Times Lexicon -‐ Jugaad (a word taken from Hindi which captures the meaning of finding a low-‐cost solution to any problem in an intelligent way) is a new way to think constructively and differently about innovation and strategy.
lifted be reduced as a priority design feature. But there was also one operator who described the weight as not a major issue. He had already developed tactics to lift up the BP more efficiently than the first group. He also works at JE. Due to his daily heavy manual metal work, he might have developed stronger hand and shoulder muscles than the other operators.
Figure 8: Counter-‐weight in the front to Figure 9: Turning the BP at the end of one line on the field ease lifting the BP
Figure 10: Lot of adjustments and awkward postures needed to achieve the same It was also observed that the operator needed to take awkward postures (Figure 10) to do all the setting changes on the BP as well as during on-‐field repair of components. Again the operator himself did not report this as a problem as he was used to such awkward postures during his daily work routine at JE and thought of it as normal. It was also noted that the BP does not have rear wheels. Thus it needs to be transported on a pick-‐up truck from one village to another. This implies additional cost and labor. The earlier BP versions had a fertilizer metering and dispensing sub-‐assembly, which however was not performing the task appropriately and hence had to be removed. The stakeholders expressed that having the subassembly will make the BP usage more cost effective and they can save fertilizer if local application around seed is done rather than their current hand broadcast methods. During the assembling and disassembling processes, it was observed that the BP has not been designed from manufacturing and assembly point of view. Also the components were not optimally designed from strength and weight point of view. The owner of JE was keenly interested in getting guidance on the right material selection, jigs, fixture and die development and a design, which is easier and faster to manufacture and assemble. Limitations of his manufacturing capabilities and raw material availability in the market were noted so as to be able to design accordingly. Also other manufacturing setups in the country were visited to make an assessment of how best to combine the manufacturing and assembling capabilities of different parties and obtain a low cost BP.
5. Connection: Resonating with the user 5.1 Part A: Co-‐creation Workshop With the insight drawn from on-‐field study, two co-‐creation workshops were conducted wherein farmers, operators, LSPs, manufacturer, field technical staff, agricultural scientists and experts participated. The group together participated in prioritizing the concerns and problems and ideated on possibilities. Also during this collaborative approach, each person learned more about the BP and bed planting and many misconceptions and doubts were also cleared. To begin with, all participants were asked to write down difficulties, problems and positive aspects of the BP on sticky notes. Each sticky note carried one aspect. Next all sticky notes were put up on a white board. The researcher had also prepared a checklist and missing points were added onto fresh sticky notes on the white board. Next the group started discussion. Each sticky note was picked up and the person who wrote it was asked to elaborate on to it and show pictures or drawings if he had any. Mostly they had clicked photographs using their mobile phones whenever they had faced a problem or made a solution themselves. Next others in the group could contribute by either adding on the aspect or if it were a misconception on part of the writer, they would provide a clarification. Next the group would agree upon whether to classify the issue for the future design as “must-‐be quality (basic)”, “one-‐dimensional quality (performance)”, “attractive quality” or “indifferent quality”. [10] These qualities are drawn from Kano Model and were defined with example to the group as: 1. Must-‐be Quality (Basic) -‐ These attributes are taken for granted when fulfilled but result in dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. 2. One-‐dimensional Quality (Performance) -‐ These attributes result in satisfaction when fulfilled and dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. These are attributes on which companies compete for. 3. Attractive Quality (Attractive) -‐ These attributes provide satisfaction when achieved fully, but do not cause dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. 4. Indifferent Quality -‐ These attributes refer to aspects that are neither good nor bad, and they do not result in either customer satisfaction or customer dissatisfaction. At times when the group would say a problem mentioned in the sticky note is not important or “indifferent quality” while the researcher felt it was important, the researcher would suggest alternate ways of thinking to probe the group’s thinking. For example, the group thought having a seat for the operator is not very important. At this instant the researcher introduced scenarios like: 1. Imagine you are taking the BP from one village to another, which is 10km away. Now the BP has rear wheels but you can’t sit. Will you be comfortable walking 10km? Will that not mean loss of time and money? 2. Imagine you are on the fields and in a village you have to do 10 acres in a day. Will you be able to walk to and fro with the BP making beds on the fields? When presented with such probes, the participants thought deeper into the human centered aspects of operation. Therefore, the situation was put as a “one-‐dimensional quality (performance)” for the design process. Also later some stakeholders argued that it might increase the cost of the BP, which might be a deterrent to some. Hence it was decided to have a provision to sell the seat plus rear wheel arrangement as an add-‐on component. Another situation was when the participants strongly argued that a counter-‐weight like sand bag should be tied in the front of the BP to make it easier to lift from behind. So in the future design a cage kind of arrangement should be present in the front where the sand bags can be put. In this situation, the researcher suggested that sand bag is dead weight. What if we place a storage box for seeds and fertilizers in the front from which seeds and fertilizers can drop automatically into the metering box? The advantage will be: useful weight, no need to constantly refill the small seed and fertilizer metering boxes, the additional weight is gone automatically at the end of bed planting and while transporting, the vehicle is light, saving fuel. The participants thus agreed to the idea and placed it as a “could have” feature. Hence a seed cum fertilizer storage box was also decided to be sold as an add-‐on component for the BP.
5.1.1 Insights from the Co-‐design Sessions with Farmers, Operators, LSPs, Manufacturers, Field Engineers, CIMMYT Hub Managers (Agricultural Scientists) All the participants wanted the seeding effectiveness, soil pulverization, soil compaction around seed, robust and easy to operate interface to be taken on priority 1, ie., “must-‐be quality (basic)”. Fertilizer application using the current BP is not successful due to the hygroscopic nature of fertilizers used. But the stakeholders thought it would be nice to have an option for applying fertilizers as well using the BP. Thus this feature was listed in “attractive quality”. It was also decided to have this option as an add-‐on component on the BP. Improving the maneuverability of the machine was also listed as “must-‐be quality”. The operators also demanded visual guides to know which setting hole is meant for a given soil or seed type. Thus it was decided to incorporate visual operational manual or guide on the BP. The manufacturer was concerned about the low-‐tech manufacturing facility that he has alongwith the lesser-‐trained work force. It was proposed to build a detailed manufacturing guidebook so as to help train his workers in achieving the desired quality in the product. In this session, all stakeholders together decided that a modular BP consisting of a core machine plus add-‐ons, which can be bought separately, would be a good design approach. This will help the LSPs to buy as per their financial status and upgrade slowly. The core machine will consist of the soil pulverization unit, the seed metering and dispensing unit and the bed-‐shaping unit. The add-‐on options will be the seed cum fertilizer storage unit, the fertilizer metering and dispensing unit and the seat plus rear wheel unit. The LSPs and operators demanded easy availability of spare parts in the market. It was discussed and decided to offer the most easily damaged parts of the BP as extra while selling the BP till the product is well established in the market with good supply of spare parts. It was also decided to use as far as possible only standard components in the design so as to ensure lesser spare parts related issue. Also contact details of the manufacturer was agreed to be put on the BP so that LSP can contact him for spare parts. During the discussions, it was realized that the operators, farmers, LSPs and the manufacturer have lot of misconceptions around the BP. For example, the manufacturer had eliminated certain components from the BP designed by BARI without understanding their use. This reduced performance in bed formation. The operators thought the BP is slow. They have used the 2WT for ploughing where the operation can happen faster. A large part of the problem in the BP operation was thus arising due to lack of proper training. The operators were mostly found to be unaware of agronomic practices. They had no idea regarding under what soil conditions (example soil clay content, soil moisture content), how many times the land should be ploughed before using the BP. Only some knew the depth at which each seed should be planted in the soil. They were unaware that the bed shaper cone is offset to the BP center as the rotary blade shaft is offset (Figure 11). The operators would invariably end up setting the bed shaper cones outside the cutting width of the rotary blades. Thus due to friction caused while moving in uncut soil, the cone would get damaged. Also the scrapper used to scrap pulverized soil and bring it towards the center of the bed was set outside cutting width of the rotary blades. These would also get damaged due to friction caused while being dragged on uncut soil. It was also observed that the operators were not trained in repairing the machine. Even a small part like chain link damage would make the BP unusable till the operator finds someone to fix it. (a)
(b)
Figure 11: (a) Cutting width of the rotary blade (b) Bed shaper cone can be moved to change bed width 5.2. Part B: Mock training session From the insights obtained in the co-‐creation session, a mock-‐training session was also organized to understand the training dynamics and identify what can be the content of a BP -‐ training program.
6. Detachment: Leaving the user’s world and designing with user’s perspective From the above-‐mentioned research, it was obvious to shift the attention from designing a BP to designing the Bed Planting as a system. This system involved the BP, the product strategy, the training of operator and manufacturer and a supporting marketing strategy. Thus a third co-‐creation workshop was conducted with Hub Managers of CIMMYT who are agricultural scientists and domain experts. In this workshop, the above-‐mentioned prioritized list was presented to the group for further discussion. They were also presented with prospective design ideas and directions for solving the issues. The aim of the session was to discuss prospective ideas and their priority and have an early check of design concept in the block diagram phase itself. 6.1. Insights from the Co-‐design Sessions with CIMMYT Hub Managers (Agricultural Scientists) The final feature list is as follows: 1. Must-‐be Quality (Basic) 1. 2.
Modular BP with add-‐ons As far as possible using standard components to manufacture the BP and providing essential spare part inventory to be sold alongwith the BP 3. Adequate soil pulverization and compaction around seed 4. Accurate seeding 5. Reliable and robust machine 6. Easy to maneuver (lift and turn) in the field and while transporting from village to village 7. Transporting with ease from one village to another 8. Cognitively easy and intuitive operation with easy adjustment possibilities 9. Visual operation guide for operator 10. Training module guidelines for operator training 11. Manufacturer’s manual detailing material and manufacturing specifications and assembly process 2. One-‐dimensional Quality (Performance) 1. 2.
Fertilizer metering and dispensing possibility Seating possibility
3. Attractive Quality 1. 2. 3.
Aspire -‐ able product Less dust Less fuel consumption
Features to be sold as add-‐on to reduce cost of base model and provide LSP with options 1. 2. 3.
Seating plus rear wheel Fertilizer metering and dispensing unit Seed and fertilizer storage unit
7. Conclusion The current BP designed by BARI is a pretty good machine when considered from agronomic requirement fulfillment point of view. It achieves soil pulverization, seeding and bed making. The machine also allows tons of setting possibilities, which are very essential for a machine to be used by agricultural scientists. Scientists can set the machine at multiple parameters and test its performance. But the same machine due to its possibility to be set at such huge number of variable settings becomes confusing and difficult for an illiterate or semi-‐literate operator. They need straight – forward instructions and simple interfaces. The other major issues were inadequate level of engineering refinement of the S-‐BP, inadequate training of operators, lack of ergonomic considerations and introduction of the machine as a product when it still has a test rig look. Certain marketing issues like word-‐of-‐ mouth message propagation regarding low quality of machine, conflicting pricing and too many free demonstrations of the product were also identified in the study.
The advantage of using a HCD approach and involving all stakeholders starting from promoters, manufacturers, users to maintenance personnel was that everyone’s aspirations and needs could be mapped and understood in the system and the new product could be designed, prototyped and field-‐tested within a short span of 4 months. Another advantage of the process was rather than concentrating on designing a machine for Bed Planting, the focus was shifted on to Bed Planting as a system and how to introduce mechanization in the system. 8. Acknowledgement I would like to express gratitude to the following experts for their valuable inputs: Engr. Md. Shoeb Hassan, Chief Scientific Officer & Head, FMP Engineering Division, BARI, Gazipur; Dr. Engr. Md. Ayub Hossain, Principal Scientific Officer, BARI, Gazipur; Engr. Muhammad Arshadul Hoque, Senior Scientific Officer, BARI, Gazipur; Engr. Kowshik Kumar Saha, Scientific Officer, BARI, Gazipur; Dr. Timothy J. Krupnik, Cropping Systems Agronomist, CIMMYT; Dr. Mahesh Kumar Gathala, Scientist – Cropping Systems Agronomist, CIMMYT; Dr. Md. Abdul Momin, Cropping Systems Agronomist, CIMMYT; Dr. Md. Shahjahan, Cropping Systems Agronomist, GCAP, (Ex. Seed Specialist, FAO), CIMMYT; Dr. Md. Mohi Uddin, Cropping Systems Agronomist, CIMMYT-‐Bangladesh; Dr. Md. Enamul Haque, Adjunct Associate Professor -‐ Murdoch University, Australia & Team Leader, Conservation Agriculture Project, iDE Bangladesh; Subrata Kumar Chakrabarty, Program Manager (CSISA-‐MI), CIMMYT; Md. Shahidull Islam, Technical Officer, Global Conservation Agriculture Program, CIMMYT; Mr. Oli Hujur and his team, Janata Engineering; all farmers, LSPs, operators and dealers involved; the iDE team comprising of Boudewijn Sterk, Conor Riggs, Md. Badrul Alam, Asma Khan, Imran Nizami, Ranjan Das, Samar Singh, Chetan Kannadaka Shivarama, Kevin Robbins, Ahad Abdullah and other support staff. 9. References [1] “Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) » CSISA Mechanization and Irrigation.” [Online]. Available: http://csisa.org/csisa-‐mi/. [Accessed: 27-‐Dec-‐2014]. [2] “Final report: Development of conservation farming implements for two-‐wheel tractors (power tillers) in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Bangladesh,” ACIAR. [Online]. Available: http://aciar.gov.au/publication/fr2010-‐20. [Accessed: 29-‐Dec-‐2014]. [3] M. I. Hossain, M. S. Islam, I. Hossain, and M. S. Rahman, “Seeding performance of two wheel tractor operated bed planter for cereal crop establishment,” International Journal of Energy Machinery, 2010, vol. 3, pp. 63–69. [4] D. Leonard and J. F. Rayport, “Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design -‐ HBR,” Harvard Business Review, Nov-‐1997. [Online]. Available: https://hbr.org/1997/11/spark-‐innovation-‐through-‐empathic-‐design. [Accessed: 24-‐Dec-‐2014]. [5] M. Kouprie and F. S. Visser, “A framework for empathy in design: stepping into and out of the user’s life,” Journal of Engineering Design, 2009, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 437–448. [6] “Mission, Vision & Values.” [Online]. Available: http://ide-‐bangladesh.org/main/our-‐misson-‐vision/1. [Accessed: 29-‐Dec-‐2014]. [7] “CIMMYT. About us.” [Online]. Available: http://intranet.cimmyt.org/en/about-‐us. [Accessed: 19-‐Apr-‐2014] [8] T. J. Krupnik, S. Santos Valle, A. McDonald, S. Justice, I. Hossain, and M. K. Gathala, Made in Bangladesh: Scale-‐ appropriate machinery for agricultural resource conservation. CIMMYT, 2013. [9] R. Balakrishnan, Rural Women and Food Security in Asia and the Pacific, December 2005. RAP PUBLICATION 2005/30 Rural women and food security in Asia and the Pacific: Prospects and paradoxes Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok, Thailand. [10] E. Sauerwein, F. Bailom, K. Matzler, and H. H. Hinterhuber, “The Kano Model: How to delight your customers,” no. Preprints Volume I of the IX. International Working Seminar on Production Economics, Inns bruck/Igls/Austria, February 19–23 1996, pp. 313–327.