This paper aims to test and evaluate a locally fabricated hand planter performance in fieki conditions, and study some engineering factors that affect its performance. Field evaluation included three types of ground wheel (steel, lugged, and rubber), three types of furrow opener (single disc, double disc, and runner), four types of depth control device and three values of planting depth (1, 3, and 5 cm) to select the suitable design components of the machine. Also, the root yield and costs of using the machine were estimated and compared with manual planting method. The results demonstrated that the runner opener is generally satisfactory for sugar beet sowing due to their least variation ¡n planting depth, highest plant emergence, and fastest rate of emergence. The pushing force increased by increasing ¡n the seeds depth of planting. It ranged from 70 to 120 N for depth range of 1 — 5 cm. This trend shows that the planter is suitable for average worker. The best depth control was achieved by linked wheels and side wheel, with less control by the front wheel and poorest control by the rear wheel. The minimum slip of 5.3 % and rolling resistance of 30.2 N were recorded with rubber wheel, meanwhile the maximum slip of 15.6 % and rolling resistance of 57.6 N were obtained by using steel wheel type. By using the fabricated hand planter the beet root yield and sugar yield increased by 30 and 26 % respectively as compared with manual method. Hand planter reduced the labor requirement by 83.3 %, (kg of seed I feddan) was reduced by about 67.5 % and total cost of planting I feddan was reduced by 72.7 %. The energy requirement for sugar beet planting decreased by about 83.7 % by using the fabricated hand planter instead of the manual planting.