ESTIMATION OF SUITABLE FIELD WORKDAYS OF PLANTING AND HARVESTING OPERATIONS OF MAIZE PRODUCTION IN BAUCHI STATE NIGERIA (Published)
Estimation of suitable field workdays were determined in Bauchi LGA based on soil moisture content and vagaries weather. A ten year metrological weather information were obtained at Federal Ministry of Aviation, Bauchi from 1999-2009. A computer program was written in Visual Basic 2008 to compute daily soil moisture content for the period beginning May to ending October for each of the ten years and apply tractability conditions to the soil moisture balance to estimate good machinery field workdays and days best for tillage. Out of the 184 days working season for each of the years assessed for trafficability conditions, the year (2001) had the lowest suitable workdays (56 days) with 30.43 percent of the total time. The year (2000) had the highest suitable workdays (100 days) with 54.35 percent. The year (2001 & 2008) had the lowest number of best tillage workdays (29days) with 15.76 percent of the total time and the year 1999 had the highest number of tillage workdays (68days) with 36.96 percent
Keywords: Soil moisture, Suitable Field Workdays, Trafficability, Weather