ME31B: INFRASTRUCTURE FOR BIOSYSTEMS

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ME31B INFRASTRUCTURE FOR BIOSYSTEMS

• COURSE OUTLINE FORMAT

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Details of Lecturer

• Course Lecturer Dr. E.I. Ekwue
• Room Number 216 Main Block, Faculty of
  Engineering
• Email ekwue_at_eng.uwi.tt ,
• Tel. No. 662 2002 Extension 3171

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Course Outline

• Layout, structural design and environmental
  requirements for agricultural buildings and
  structures.
• Access road construction and maintenance.
• Local water supplies planning water source
  works including design of ponds, boreholes and
  farm reservoirs.

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         Course Description

• This applied course exposes students to
  structural designs of farm or small buildings and
  environment and ancillary designs of roads, and
  water supplies required for farm building
  operations as well as in local environments.

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Course Goals

• This course has two specific goals
• (i)  To introduce students to basic concepts of
  farm or small buildings, access roads design and
  construction as well as design of local water
  supply works like pipelines and sources like
  boreholes.
• (ii) To develop design skills relevant to the
  areas mentioned in (i) above, all geared towards
  the design of infrastructural facilities required
  in a local setting.

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          Course Objectives

• On Completion of this course, students should be
  able to
• (i) Understand the steps involved in the planning
  of farm or small buildings
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• (ii)  Select relevant materials required for farm
  or small buildings construction.
• (iii) Understand the layout, space, sanitary and
  physiological requirements of farm or small
  buildings.

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Course Objectives Concluded

• (iv) Design the various structural elements
  involved in buildings. 
• (v) Design and learn the principles of
  construction of access roads
• (vi) Design, boreholes, pipelines and other water
  source works.

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  Course  Assessment

• (i) One (1) Mid-semester test, 1-hour duration
  counting for 20 of the total course.
• (ii) One (1) End-of-semester examination, 3 hours
  duration counting for 80 of the total course
  marks.

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           Reading Materials

• (i) Lindley, J.A. and Whitaker, J.H. (1996).
  Agricultural Buildings and Structures (Revised
  Edition). ASAE Publication.
• (ii) Bengtsson, L.P. and Whitaker, J.H. (1986).
  Farm Structures in Tropical Climates, FAO, Rome.
• (iii) Transactions of the American Society of
  Agricultural Engineers, Division of Structures
  and Environment.
• (iv)  Course Comprehensive Note book and other
  handouts and tutorial sheets.

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ME31B CHAPTER ONE

• PLANNING OF FARM STRUCTURES

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1.1 DEFINITION

• Farm structures involve the study of the erection
  of buildings for man, animals, crops and farm
  equipment.
• The design and construction of farm structures is
  one of the major technical services agricultural
  engineers render to agriculture.

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1.2 EXAMPLES OF FARM STRUCTURES

• a) Farm houses Dwellings for operators,
  retired parents, relatives, workers with
  families.
• b) Buildings for livestock e.g. horse, dairy,
  beef-cattle, sheep, goat, hogs and poultry
  buildings.
• c) Buildings for product storage e.g. hay barns,
  granaries, bins, silos, vegetable
  storages, frozen product storages, Cold rooms etc.

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Other Farm Building Examples

• d) Buildings for crop production especially
  green houses.
• e) Buildings for processing e.g. milk houses,
  pasteurizing and bottling plants slaughter
  houses, grain dryers, dehydration structures etc.
• f) Buildings for equipment and supplies e.g.
  implement sheds, garages, farm shops, fuel
  storage etc

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1.3 PLANNING OF FARM STRUCTURES

• Planning of farm structures refers to all
  processes undergone right from conception to
  completion of the structures.
• The planning stages include 
• a) Conception Feasibility Investigate
  different alternatives for investments and
  development of the farm, now and in the future.
  Check possible sources of finance for the
  investment. The feasibility involves studies of
  user requirements, site conditions, requirement
  from authorities, functional and technical
  requirements and cost. 

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Stages in Planning Contd.

• b) Sketch Plans Roughly sketch alternatives to
  the general approach to layout, functional
  planning, design and construction. Choose the
  required layout and prepare preliminary
  constructional design and cost calculations.
• Alternatively, drawings can be collected from
  reliable sources e.g. research stations. Study
  the drawings and evaluate them regarding the
  functional and technical requirements.
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Steps in Planning Contd.

• c) Detailed design of every component of the
  building. Complete cost and checking of designs.
  Final decision on construction.
• The design of farm structures is essentially
  similar to the design of Civil Engineering
  structures like buildings.

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Stages in Planning Contd.

• d) Working drawings, schedules, and
  specifications regarding production methods and
  assembly and installation instructions.
  Preparations of a time schedule for the
  production of the building.
• e) Bill of Quantities The aim of quantity
  surveying is to provide an accurate bill of
  quantities, that is a list of the amounts of all
  materials and labour necessary to complete a
  construction project. See example in Note Bk.

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Stages in Planning Contd.

• f) Invite tenders from contractors out of which
  one is chosen. Tenders can be by open tenders
  e.g. Advertised in papers and selective tenders
  (meeting capable contractors). Sign contracts.
• Contracting can be by 
• i) Complete Contracting The whole work is
  given to one contractor. A lot of specifications
  is required. Gives the owner more rest. The
  contractor can employ best technicians to protect
  his reputation. 

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Types of Contracts Contd.

• ii) Semi-Contracting Contracting various items
  needed for the building separately. There is
  waste of time. Best technicians may not be known
  to the owner.
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• iii) Self-Aid No contract is involved and is
  cheaper. Used for small buildings e.g. chicken
  house. Construction may take a longer time.

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Stages in Planning Concluded

• g) Site operations including hiring of labour,
  provision of tools, preparation of access roads
  to sites, provision of temporal stores and sheds,
  clearing of sites, delivery of construction
  materials and technical inspection during
  construction.

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1.4 ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF FARM STRUCTURES

• In addition to the actual cost of constructing a
  building, which must be considered in relation to
  the financial capacity of the farmer, the total
  annual cost of the building should be determined.
  
• This annual cost should be compared with the
  expected increase in income or the saving in
  storage costs to determine whether the new
  building is a worthwhile investment i.e. the
  economic feasibility of the building is
  determined.

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ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF FARM STRUCTURES CONTD.

• Consider the following factors
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• a) Cost of Land and Building
• b) Interest of Capital Money This represents
  the interest paid for money borrowed for building
  the house or in case the farmer used his money,
  the interest that could have accrued to him if he
  had used his capital for other purposes. The
  interest rate should be either the rate paid or
  the current rate of mortgage loans in the area. 

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Economic Feasibility Contd.

• c) Insurance and Taxes Insurance cost should be
  included in capital investment whether or not the
  building is insured. The risk of fire and other
  hazards is borne by the insurance company if it
  is insured or by the owner himself if it is not.
  This may range from 1/2 to 1 of the original
  cost of the building.
• For countries where taxes are charged on
  buildings, this should be included. Taxes may
  range from 1 to 2 of the original cost. 

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Economic Feasibility Contd.

• d) Repairs and Maintenance All buildings
  require some maintenance but the cost varies with
  age, type of building, climate and environment,
  construction materials and use of the building.
• One to three percent of initial construction
  cost is usually assumed as a uniform annual
  allowance throughout the life of the building.

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Economic Feasibility Contd.

• e) Depreciation Cost that takes account of the
  wear and tear as well as the obsolesce of the
  building. Some methods can be used to calculate
  it.
• i) Straight line method Assumes that
  depreciation cost is constant for all years.
• Depreciation cost Initial Cost - Final Cost
• 
  Service life in years
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Depreciation Contd.

• Assuming the total cost of erecting a building is
  20,000 and the estimated age is 20 years,
  the depreciation cost per year is
• 20,000 - 0 1,000 per year
• 20 years
  
•  Note Final cost or salvage value is the final
  value of the building when it is no longer viable
  for farm structure and can be assumed as zero or
  5 to 10 of the construction cost.
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Depreciation Sum of Digits Method
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Depreciation Compound Interest Method
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Depreciation Other Methods of Computation

• d) Other methods of computing depreciation cost
  include
• Declining balance method,
• Cost depletion method and
• Annual depletion method.

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1.4.1 Example of Computation of Returns on
Investment

• The method used for computations of returns on
  investment for open-sided and tunnel-ventilated
  broiler poultry buildings in Trinidad is
  summarised below and the calculated values are
  stated in Table 3 for all the buildings.
• The actual values used for the computations were
  based on information either received from the
  farmers themselves or data collected during a
  recent survey period.

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Example of Computation of Returns on Investment
Contd.

• Depreciation was calculated using straight-line
  method assuming a life span of 25 years and a
  salvage value of 25 of original cost
• of building for the tunnel-ventilated
  buildings and 0 for the open-sided buildings.
• Tax and insurance (TIS) were calculated at
  0.5 of the cost of the house per annum. Profit
  was calculated as
• Returns on production (owning cost expenses
  depreciation TIS)

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Computation Contd.

• The calculation was based on only 7 broiler grow
  outs per annum because one grow out lasts for 37
  days and the period between grow outs is at most
  one week.
• For the open house, only 6 grow outs per annum
  are possible since one grow out lasts for 49 days
  and the period between grow outs is taken to be
  one to two weeks.

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Example of Computation Concluded

• The cost of day-old chicks, feeds as well as for
  medicine was not considered in the calculations
  since the contract farmers supplied these to the
  farmer. In return, the contract farmers bought
  the birds at agreed rates (Table 1), which are
  about ten times below market prices.
• It was seen, however, that using tunnel
  ventilation in Trinidad could lead to profits of
  close to two and half times that for a naturally
  ventilated one.

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