Cassava (Manihot esculent a Crant z) is t he world' s t hird most import ant crop and an essent ial source of
f ood and income t hroughout t he t ropics providing livelihood f or over 500 million f armers and count less
processors and t raders. I n Ghana, cassava cont ribut es 22% of Agricult ural Gross Domest ic Product
(AGDP) and is an emerging prof it able indust ry crop. Largescale cassava harvest ing especially during
t he dry season is t he great est const raint t o it s indust rial demand and commercial product ion. Manual
harvest ing is slow and associat ed wit h drudgery and high root damage in t he dry season. A
mechanical harvest er is needed t o break t he labor bot t leneck associat ed wit h cassava harvest ing.
Research on mechanizat ion of cassava product ion however is very low , especially in t he area of
harvest ing and current ly t here exist s no known mechanical cassava harvest ers in Ghana. The main
object ive of t his st udy was t o assess t he response of f ive diff erent cassava variet ies t o mechanical
harvest ing on ridged and f lat landf orms. Result s f rom f ield t rials using t he t ek mechanical cassava
harvest er showed t hat best perf ormance was achieved on ridged landf orms, which have bet t er t uber
yields and root t uber orient at ion. Among all t he cassava variet ies, "Nkabom" was generally f ound t o
more easily lend it self t o mechanical harvest ing due t o it s bunchy nat ure. The t ek mechanical
harvest er worked best on f ields wit h minimal t rash or weeds and relat ively dry soils wit h moist ure
cont ent f rom 12%16% d. b. and requires draf t s of up t o 10. 33 kW wit h penet rat ion dept h f rom 23 t o 29
cm. Best harvest ing perf ormance was achieved at a t ract or speed of 5 km/ h giving af ield capacit y of
1. 9 t o 2. 5 h/ ha. Af t er mechanical harvest ing, t he f ield is lef t plowed wit h savings on f uel, t ime and
cost . However , it is recommended t o f ield evaluat e t he harvest er in all agroecological zones and
t hrough a wide range of soil moist ure regimes in Ghana t o det ermine suit able areas f or mechanical
harvest ing and t o promot e nat ionwide adopt ion.