Design, Construction and Evaluation of a Smart Agricultural Harvester

Abstract

The cost of picking the agriculture product is probably the major factor in determining whether or not there will be an economically successful season for most farmers. Hand harvesting has been costly, whereby, the cost of production constitute up to 80% of the total cost. Jatropha curcas has been considered as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production. Today, Jatropha curcas have been widely planted for harvesting its fruits for biodiesel production. Unfortunately, until now, the cost of jatropha production for biodiesel production is still high, especially labor costs for harvesting. The aim of the present study was to design, construct and evaluate a portable jatropha harvester to reduce dependence on human labor in the harvesting process. This smart harvester was developed by devising a simple crank powered by a hand drill 12 volt (V) that converts the rotary motion to linear motion at a push rod. To evaluate the machine performance, a factorial experiment with randomized complete randomized design (RCBD) in ten replications was conducted, the factors being shaking frequency (180, 250 and 300 rpm) and shaking duration (5, 10 and 15 seconds). To calculate the ratio of fruit detachment force (F) to its weight (W), appropriate measurements were made. Also, the geometric mean diameter of the fruits was determined at different stages of maturity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and comparison of means by Duncan's multiple range test (DMRT) showed that the effects of shaking frequency and shaking time on fruit detachment were greatly significant. The number of fruits detached increased by increasing the shaking frequency. Maximum number of fruits detachment was obtained by applying 300 rpm shaking frequency. Also the number of fruits detached increased by increasing the shaking duration.

Strategy to Increase the Farm Competitiveness

“…The study conducted also highlighted the fact that the investment to assist the vineyard tasks of pruning and tying is warranted for wine-growing undertakings adopting a Guyot pruning system, even for those inferior to 2 hectares. In this way, also small companies could introduce process innovations and obtain a competitive advantage in the international wine market (Tudisca et al, 2013c;Clingeleffer, 2013;Ghani et al, 2013). So, considering the difficulties that farms have to be competitive (high production costs, low sales prices of agricultural products, lack of human labor), the process innovation could represent a way to achieve a cost leadership and improve profit margin (Cerutti et al, 2014;Tudisca et al, 2014d;Houssou et al, 2013;Rahman and Takeda, 2007).…”