Combine Harvester: Impact on paddy production in Bangladesh

Abstract

Due to migration of agricultural labor in non-farm sectors and increasing climate vulnerability it is a great challenge to keep pace of food production for the exponential growth of population in Bangladesh. For following the traditional paddy harvesting methods, significant amount of field losses has been occurred in every year. The study was conducted to evaluate performance of combine harvester in comparison to manual harvesting of paddy and identify the impact on agricultural production system in Bangladesh. The experiment was conducted at Wazirpur Upazila of Barisal district during Aman-2018 paddy harvesting using a combine harvester and also, manual harvesting was conducted at the same location. Financial analysis of combine harvester over manual method was carried out for comparison. Cost savings in mechanical harvesting of paddy were found 57.61% for using combine harvester over manual harvesting. Similarly, labors savings for using combine harvester was found 70% over manual harvesting. The estimated BCR of combine harvester is found 1.55. The break-even use of combine harvester is 35 ha/yr which indicates a combine harvester must operate above 35 ha/yr to have profit. The combine harvester will run on fully profit basis if it could be used after that minimum hectares. The average total harvesting losses (including harvesting, threshing and cleaning) were also found 1.61% and 6.08% for using combine harvester and manual harvesting, respectively. The losses of paddy will be reduced 4.47% using combine harvester over manual harvesting. The above results revealed that manual harvesting is a labor and cost involving system. On the other hand, mechanical harvester like combine harvester is a time, labor and cost saving system along with reducing harvesting losses. As a result, total paddy production might be increased, and which will help to contribute significantly to the development of livelihood status of rural community of Bangladesh.
 
 J Bangladesh Agril Univ 17(4): 583–591, 2019

The Losses in the Rice Harvest Process: A Review

“…The loss due to the use of combine harvesters is smaller than that caused by manual reaping and threshers in Egypt [53]. Similar results were found in Bangladesh [58], Myanmar [49], Dominican Republic [84], and Thailand [55]. However, some findings were contrary.…”

“…If harvested too early, immature grains can make threshing difficult, resulting in more unthreshed loss [88]. Delayed harvesting may also cause substantial loss owing to shattering and extended exposure to natural incidents, such as attacks by birds and other pests [49,58,59], which is in line with farmers' perspectives [47]. Regression analyses in China confirmed that harvesting in time could reduce harvest loss [77].…”

“…Since these harvesters complete the following threshing and winnowing operations at once, the loss here also includes the threshing and winnowing losses described below [50]. Although Hasan and colleagues [58] considered combine harvesting loss to also include cutter bar loss and cylinder loss, they only estimated the total loss. After the completion of combine harvesting, suitable sample frames (1 m × 1 m or other sizes) are randomly selected in the harvested fields.…”

“…Gummert and colleagues [49] argued that higher mechanization increases net income by 30-50%. Hasan and colleagues [58] also indicated that using combine harvesters saves 57.61% costs compared to manual harvesting; however, combine harvesters need to harvest more than 35 hectares per year to be profitable. The 10-year savings from loss reduction due to the introduction of threshing machines in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (approximately USD 33,200) were higher than the associated intervention costs of USD 14,000 [54].…”

Techno-Economic Feasibility of Zoomlion Combine Harvester in Haor Areas of Bangladesh

“…However, the condition of increasing productivity cannot be satisfied attributable to the shortage of manpower at that particular harvesting time. At the same time, since 1976, land availability for cultivation in Bangladesh has dropped by 68,760 ha•year −1 (0.73 percent) [1]. The alternative way to meet the grain requirement of the increasing population is to increase production with the help of mechanization.…”