Sugar cane farmers in Zambia can now also rely on the sturdy craftmanship of the African built Senter 360 central pivot with its high rise, especially for high-growing crops.

Farmers are going to embrace the revolutionary sky-scraping water propelled pivot with which Senter 360 are celebrating their coming of age. The water propelled pivot has been available for quite some time, but Senter 360’s innovative engineers found a way to challenge the laws of gravity in order to design a special pivot for farmers with high-growing crops.

Although Senter 360 attained their coming of age, their youthful ability to innovate remains unblemished. This South African company is confidently entering into markets further north in Africa to offer even more farmers of the continent viable and reliable irrigation solutions.

Senter 360’s ability to fulfil every need a farmer might have, was proved last year with the introduction of their first high profile, single tower, water propelled pivot for sugar cane. This pivot was sold to Dave Bell, a sugar cane farmer from Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal.

Gone are the days when a farmer had to lay very expensive power lines to his remote pivot circles – this pivot is propelled by the pump’s water and pressure to run smoothly high over the highest crops.

Last year, Dave acquired a Senter 360 pivot with seven towers for his dad, Sandy, who irrigates 52 hectares of sugar cane. Sandy’s farm is a level valley next to the Umhlatuzi river, which is an irrigation paradise, and the pivot runs like a dream.

Dave’s own farm, however, is quite a different kettle of fish. He had to call in a consultant to recommend an appropriate pivot for his undulating fields. The consultant found that the Senter 360 would definitely hold its own on the inclines of 12 to 15%.

Dave promptly acquired Senter 360 pivots for the sugar cane fields of 22 and 18 ha on his farm. He also bought a high profile, single tower, water propelled pivot for a sugar cane field of 4 ha.

“I am very relieved now that my pivots can easily replace the moisture loss from our soil. In severe droughts, I can lose up to 200 mm of moisture per month,” says Dave. “I apply between 20 and 22 mm of water on my sugar cane with every revolution every three and a half days.”

 With this recipe, Dave increased his sugar cane yield by 40 tonnes this year!

 Like any other good farmer, Dave tests the performance of his pivots with a rain gauge, however, this effort is quite unnecessary as the Senter 360 applies exactly as much water as promised.

Recently, Dave experienced an extreme wind storm of 120 kmh, but no damage was caused to his pivots.

Even the high profile pivot’s framework was solid enough to withstand all the inclines and winds.

The Senter 360’s aluminium elec-trical cables are not as popular with cable thieves as copper conductors.

To further protect his pivots, Dave erected a stronghold with a concrete roof at the centre point of every pivot to protect the control panel against theft. He also buried the electric supply cable very deep.

Across the river from which Dave obtains his water for irrigation, he has 50 hectares on which he uses draglines. Five full-time labourers are needed for this task. On the other hand, the control of all his pivots need only a short while of his manager’s time.

“I am also very impressed with the electricity savings effected by my pivots,” says Dave. “For the draglines, I need to maintain 3,5 bars of pressure, while the pivots work perfectly with only 2,5 bars.”

A Senter 360’s tyres are not easily punctured and do not get stuck, because special pivot tyres are used. These tyres enable Dave to irrigate whenever necessary without unnecessary hassles.

For more information, call Senter 360 at +2718-469-1331 or e-mail them at info@senter360.co.za