Fresh insights in farm technology
Date: Thu 30-Sep-1993
Paper Page:
Publication: Daily Nation
TWELVE CARIBBEAN technicians are now back in their respective countries better
technologically equipped following a farm equipment maintenance course at the
University of the West Indies (UWI) campus in Trinidad.
The five-day Principles of farm equipment maintenance course was targeted at
foremen (mechanical) or head mechanics in state, para-statal or other large
agricultural operations in the region.
Participants at the course, which ran from September 6 to 10, were drawn from
the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, Grenada, Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago.
The course was conducted by the Faculty of Agriculture's Continuing Education
Programme in Agricultural Technology (CEPA), with assistance from Laughlin and
de Gannes, which provided one of the feature speakers.
David Laughlin, director of Laughlin and de Gannes, delivered lectures on diesel
fuel systems, types of fuel injection systems, care and maintenance and
conducted a demonstration of calibration at the LDG Service Centre.
The programme was designed to address the lack of understanding of the
maintenance concept, so as to improve the utility and longevity of machines,
particularly diesel engines, used on farms.
It was found that one common feature of the use of farm machinery in the region
was the limited and haphazard way in which this was maintained.
Work on these machines was often done in response to a breakdown or a
significant drop in performance and not as part of a planned series of
activities in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations.
It was hoped, that participants at the end of the course, would be able to:-
- Recognise and appreciate the specifications of today's fuels and
lubricants;
- Design planned maintenance programmes;
- Maintain specified machines once provided with the appropriate tools; and
- Interpret specifications and settings.
Participants were evaluated and certificates awarded at the conclusion of the
course.