Farm Tools
Senior 1 · Agriculture
Farm Tools
Lesson 1 of 4
20 min
Let's begin
Almost every rural home in Rwanda owns at least two tools: a hoe (isuka) and a machete (umuhoro). Hoes are even made in Rwandan factories. Yet a farmer who tries to do every job with those two tools works harder, damages crops and gets hurt more often than one who has the right tool for each task.
This lesson teaches you to recognise the common small farm tools, describe their parts and say what each one is for.
A farm tool is a device that helps a person do farm work. Small (hand) tools are light, simple and powered by the user's own muscles. They differ from implements pulled by animals or tractors (such as ploughs and harrows) and from machines with engines (such as motorised tillers and chainsaws).
| Tool | How to recognise it | Main uses |
|---|---|---|
| Hoe (isuka) | Flat, broad steel blade fixed at an angle to a long wooden handle | Digging, breaking soil, weeding, making ridges, earthing up |
| Fork hoe | Like a hoe but with three or four strong prongs instead of a blade | Digging hard or stony soil, breaking clods, lifting cassava and potatoes with less damage |
| Machete or panga (umuhoro) | Long, flat, single-edged blade (about 30 to 66 cm) on a short handle | Clearing bush, cutting stems, harvesting bananas and sugarcane, cutting fodder |
| Slasher | Long, thin blade with a hooked or bent end, on a long or short handle | Cutting grass and weeds close to the ground |
| Axe (ishoka) | Heavy, wedge-shaped blade with a long handle through an eye | Felling trees, cutting and splitting wood |
| Mattock or pick-axe | Heavy head with a pointed pick or axe blade on one side and a flat cutting blade on the other | Digging very hard ground, uprooting stumps, digging terrace trenches |
| Spade | Flat, fairly narrow blade with a straight edge; foot rest on top of the blade | Digging holes and trenches, cutting and turning soil |
| Shovel | Wide blade, curved up at the sides (dished) | Scooping and moving loose soil, sand, gravel or manure |
| Garden (digging) fork | Usually four short, strong, straight tines on a handle | Loosening and turning soil; lifting compost and manure |
| Rake | Bar with a row of teeth, on a long handle | Levelling seedbeds, breaking small clods, collecting trash |
| Garden trowel | Small, pointed, scoop-shaped blade on a short handle | Transplanting seedlings with a ball of soil; digging small holes |
| Dibber | Pointed wooden or metal stick | Making holes for seeds and seedlings |
| Garden line and pegs; tape measure | Strong string wound on two pegs; marked measuring tape | Marking straight rows and correct spacing |
| Watering can | Container with a handle and a long spout ending in a perforated "rose" | Watering nursery beds and seedlings gently |
| Knapsack sprayer | Tank carried on the back, a hand pump, a hose and a lance with a nozzle | Applying pesticides, herbicides and foliar feeds |
| Secateurs (pruning shears) | Strong scissor-like tool with curved blades and a spring | Cutting branches up to about 2 cm thick; pruning coffee, fruit trees, tomatoes |
| Pruning saw | Narrow, curved saw blade | Cutting thicker branches |
| Sickle | Curved, hook-shaped blade on a short handle | Harvesting rice and wheat; cutting fodder grass |
| Wheelbarrow | Tray on one wheel, with two handles and legs | Carrying soil, manure, stones and harvested crops |
Question: Identify each tool and give one use. (a) A tool with four short, straight, strong tines on a long handle with a D-shaped grip. (b) A tool with a wide steel tray, one wheel and two handles. (c) A small tool with two curved blades and a spring between the handles. (d) A container with a long spout ending in a cap full of small holes.
(a) Garden (digging) fork: loosening soil or lifting manure.
(b) Wheelbarrow: carrying soil, manure or harvested crops.
(c) Secateurs: cutting small branches when pruning.
(d) Watering can (the cap is the rose): watering seedlings gently.
Tip for descriptions: always look first at the working part (blade, tines, teeth, nozzle), then at the handle. The working part tells you what the tool does.
Tip
Memory hook: "Spade digs, shovel scoops": a spade has a flat, straight blade for cutting into soil; a shovel has a wide, dished blade for moving loose material.
Exam technique: when asked to identify a drawn tool, name it AND give one use. Many marks are lost by naming the tool only.
Try each question before reading the solution.
Name the three main parts of a hand tool.
Solution: The working part (blade, tines or teeth), the handle, and the joint that fixes them together (eye, socket or tang).
Give two uses of a panga on a Rwandan farm.
Solution: Any two: clearing bush; cutting banana bunches or stems; cutting sugarcane; cutting fodder grass; cutting stakes.
State one difference between a slasher and a sickle.
Solution: A slasher has a long, thin blade with a hooked end, swung to cut grass low over an area. A sickle has a curved, hook-shaped blade held in one hand to cut handfuls of rice, wheat or fodder.
Which tool would you use to (a) level a seedbed, (b) transplant a cabbage seedling, (c) apply a pesticide?
Solution: (a) Rake. (b) Garden trowel. (c) Knapsack sprayer.
Why do farmers lift cassava and potatoes with a fork hoe rather than a flat hoe?
Solution: The prongs go into the soil between the roots or tubers, so fewer of them are cut or bruised. Damaged tubers rot quickly in storage.
Summary
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
