Developing Single-Ox Yokes for Draft Animal Activities in the Savannah Zone of North Cameroon

Abstract

In North Cameroon, farmers use a pair of oxen or a donkey for plowing and crop maintenance work. Before 1997, the use of a single ox for draft animal cultivation was not taken into account by development projects. On the other hand, maneuvering a pair of oxen is difficult in the spacing of cultivated fields (plants trampled, stalks broken by animals and traction chains, difficult maneuvering at the end of rows). The farmers did not adopt the straddling yoke because its large size (160 cm) makes maneuvering difficult at the end of rows. Single-ox drafting can solve these difficulties. In 1998, at the request of the Society for Cotton Development in Cameroon (SODECOTON), the Institute for Agronomic Research and Development (IRAD) developed and tested under farmers’ conditions two models of single-ox yokes. The IRAD BF model is characterized by a semicircular piece of wood that closely fits the animal bump (cost: 7500 FCFA). The IRAD BT model is made of three pieces of wood assembled into a triangle (cost: 8700 FCFA). Volunteer farmers tested a series of 50 samples of each model. The majority preferred the IRAD BF model because of its unfailing stability and its better fit on the animal bump. The weak points of the IRAD BT model were the following: high cost, defective assembly of the hames, unsteadiness when turning. Since 1999, SODECOTON has sold 620 samples of the IRAD BF model. The development of a single-ox cart is currently under study.