A Survey of Factors on Design for Manufacture of Chemical Fertilizer Granulating Machine

Abstract

The design for manufacturing of granulating machines to produce fertilizer granules in small scale using locally available materials is often challenging and this results in low fertilizer usage among Nigerian farmers when compared with the world’s average usage. A lot of factors are associated with chemical fertilizer granulating machine, and it is necessary to examine and understand the interplay among these factors. This study weighs up a number of variables that relates with the design and usage of chemical fertilizer granulating machine and offers increased insight and awareness about their insidiousness. The study employed a survey approach, using the Rensis Likert’s attitudinal scale, to generate respondents’ data matrix that was analyzed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and which was facilitated by statistiXL software. Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance (KCC) was used to rank the thirty two (32) identified variables and PCA was thereafter deployed to ascertain the degree of interplay among the variables. Results obtained by KCC suggested that judges ranking were consistent as there was sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis Also, PCA was indicating parsimony in data reduction from 32 variables to mere five. The result established five principal factors creatively labeled Miscellany Components, Technical Considerations, Granulation Efficiency, Agricultural National policy and Biophysical Elements. The most influential variable by its factor loading of 0.894 is Agricultural National policy. A gamut of variables which seem to affect chemical fertilizer granulating machine has been examined. This has helped in discerning similarities in dissimilarities.