KANAGAWA, April 30 ―Kiyomitsu Suzuki, 55, a farmer who grows daikon radishes and cabbages in the city of Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, has been using auxiliary wheels attached to his pickup truck for over a decade, as they prevent his truck from sinking in muddy fields during harvesting.
Rakurin, offered by Khamsa, an agricultural machinery maker in the city of Kobe, can be attached to the outer side of pickup trucks’ rear tires.
There are many small fields and narrow roads in Miura and pickup trucks are widely used to carry harvested vegetables.
After long rain, tires get stuck in mud, making it difficult for farmers to go into the fields on a pickup truck to do the harvesting work.
Rakurin allows the ground contact area of tires to increase and the weight to be distributed over a larger area, preventing tires from sinking into the ground even when the truck is fully loaded with daikon radishes.
“The work goes smoothly (with Rakurin),” said Suzuki, who has been using the product for 15 years.
Rakurin is installed on rear tires with a bolt, and it only takes a minute or so to attach or detach it.
Pickup trucks cannot be driven on roads with the auxiliary wheels on, so the wheels need to be removed when farmers leave the fields.
Suzuki, who works on a field of roughly a hectare with his wife Kaori, says he appreciates the fact that he can easily attach and remove the wheels on his own.
He also said he highly evaluates the auxiliary wheels because they are tires used in tractors, which means they prevent pickup trucks from slipping even on slopes.
Farmers in other regions install Rakurin on their pickup trucks to spread herbicides or rice hulls.
Rakurin, auxiliary wheels installed on a pickup truck’s rear tires, allows farmers to harvest even in muddy fields.