SURVEY OF TRACTOR USAGE AND PARTS BREAKDOWN IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

An investigation into the level of farm tractor breakdown was carried out to determine the component wear in a tractor. The nature, frequency and magnitude of wear of these component as well as their causes were also under focus. The study was carried out by administering questionnaire and observation to find out the common component of the tractor that wears easily. The findings of this study are as follow: The tractor owners, operators, engineers, mechanics and managers is male dominated, the age group of most of the respondents is between 30-59 years, there educational background was low, majority of the operators (92.68 %) learnt how to operate the tractor from other tractor operators rather than through a formal tractor training school, the most dominant tractor make used by respondents was Mahindra (49.6 %), about 95.1 % (117) of the respondents reported that their steering pump casing wear more than three times during the farming season