assuming you're not joking, construction equipment is incredibly expensive for countries to whom profiting from importing it is not a "sure thing", doubly so if their roads are not developed. This is why a 2000s hummer in central America still costs as much as a nice modern car.
A basic trencher is little more than a push lawnmower frame with a chain saw attached. Not enormous industrial equipment, but still a large boost to productivity vs a shovel.
> Nobody is expecting that they are out there digging with bare hands.
Most of these ditches are dug out by the locals with shovels. We're talking subsistence farmers here in areas where people are more or less trying to live off the land. Their hands and some primitive tools is all that's there.
>Such that I can agree it would be a worthwhile endeavor to get them better equipment.
I imagine they /want/ it, it would just be a massive issue because they do not have equal supply chains to more developed nations, and them having to pay to make up the difference makes the cost-to-benefit ratio not make sense
again this is in a country that may have little to no debt infrastructure, so no way to take out a proper loan to buy the equipment, and many hoops to import it. The fact that it's small isn't the matter, it's that it's specialized. A used/legacy backhoe or skid steer maybe, but even if you can afford it, there's no tractor supply co or home depot, you are likely handling lading the thing yourself
Why is it manual? If I had a mission to plant millions of trees, I am going to invest in a ditch witch.
assuming you're not joking, construction equipment is incredibly expensive for countries to whom profiting from importing it is not a "sure thing", doubly so if their roads are not developed. This is why a 2000s hummer in central America still costs as much as a nice modern car.
A basic trencher is little more than a push lawnmower frame with a chain saw attached. Not enormous industrial equipment, but still a large boost to productivity vs a shovel.
I think the basic trencher would almost certainly still count as manual labor? Nobody is expecting that they are out there digging with bare hands.
> Nobody is expecting that they are out there digging with bare hands.
Most of these ditches are dug out by the locals with shovels. We're talking subsistence farmers here in areas where people are more or less trying to live off the land. Their hands and some primitive tools is all that's there.
I confess that is a little surprising to me. Such that I can agree it would be a worthwhile endeavor to get them better equipment.
I would still call people using bigger stuff to be doing manual labor. For the same reason that using a lawn mower is still a manual labor job.
>Such that I can agree it would be a worthwhile endeavor to get them better equipment.
I imagine they /want/ it, it would just be a massive issue because they do not have equal supply chains to more developed nations, and them having to pay to make up the difference makes the cost-to-benefit ratio not make sense
again this is in a country that may have little to no debt infrastructure, so no way to take out a proper loan to buy the equipment, and many hoops to import it. The fact that it's small isn't the matter, it's that it's specialized. A used/legacy backhoe or skid steer maybe, but even if you can afford it, there's no tractor supply co or home depot, you are likely handling lading the thing yourself
local labour is cheaper