Performance and Prospects of Mobile Rice Mill Unit

Abstract

Rice milling is one of the important steps in post-harvest operations to get good quality white rice. As an innovation in improving customer service, a mobile rice mill unit (MRMU) has recently been operated in various rice-producing areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and prospects of MRMU based on technical and economic analysis. The research was conducted in East Lampung Regency, Lampung, Indonesia, by observing three MRMUs. Each mill was observed for three working days to obtain MRMU performance data, namely grain quality, milled yield, working time, fuel consumption, working capacity, and quality of white rice produced. Other information includes machine price, the machine age, estimated economic life, investment, interest rate, fuel consumption, operator wage, milling charge, and repair and maintenance costs. Results showed that MRMU had an actual capacity between 63.29-98.82 kg/hour with a milled yield between 60.41-64.96%. The white rice produced has a proportion of head rice 58.26-61.42%, with a whiteness index less than the SNI for rice quality standards. The unit cost of the rice milling process using MRMU was an average of 457.91 IDR/kg. At a milling charge of 666.67 IDR/kg, the operation of MRMU is economically feasible at an annual working hour higher than 1000 h. In addition, the MRMU operation was not economically acceptable at a milling charge of 500 IDR/kg. With the rapid growth in the rice milling numbers, an unbiased regulation is required to avoid unhealthy competition among the MRMU enterprises.