A hauling facility down mountain slopes

Vegetable farmers on the slopes of the Cordillera mountains could now be saved from the drudgery of hauling their products on their backs up and down the slopes to the nearest road by adopting a system developed by the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE).

Simply called agricultural tramline, this technology provides transport in production areas under extremely difficult conditions, said Dr. Ricardo L. Cachuela, BPRE executive director.

As a hauling facility, the new technology uses cables and pulleys to transport agricultural products from isolated farms to the nearest roads as well as inputs from the road to the farm.

It is especially useful for farmers in areas isolated from the road network because of ravines, rivers and dense vegetation.

Aside from minimizing drudgery in manual hauling, the agricultural tramline reduces postharvest losses because of timely discovery of produce. Damage to commodities associated with manual hauling is minimized if not completely avoided.

It also increases the productivity of farmers through optimized utilization of production inputs. With the tramline, production inputs like fertilizers could be brought to isolated farms on time.

BPRE agricultural engineers have developed two types of agricultural tramline based on their application, hauling capacity, and length of service cables. These are the monocable and bi-cable tramlines.

The monocable tramline uses a single loop of continuous cable designed to carry and support a series of loads ranging from 50 to 60 kilograms each.

It is designed for closely adjoining production areas with manageable slope. It is also flexible to curves, making it cover larger areas and operates at a high hauling capacity.

A 980-meter monocable tramline system installed by BPRE engineers in Atok, Benguet can haul 2.5 to 2.75 tons an hour. Powered by a 4Dr5 diesel engine prime mover, it covers a 10-hectare service area with nine loading/unloading terminals.

The bi-cable tramline, also called "jigback" tramline, uses a track cable in which a single carrier is operated. It runs in one direction to transport a load from a loading terminal to the unloading terminal and is reversed to bring the empty carrier back to the loading port.

This tramline system is usually applied in extremely rugged areas where point to point transport is needed. A bi-cable tramline with a length of 100 meters to one kilometer and two to five loading/unloading terminals can haul 0.5 to two tons an hour. — Sosimo Ma. Pablico