Combine Harvester: Impact on paddy production in Bangladesh

Chayan Kumer Saha,Md Enamul Haque,Md Kamrul Hasan,Md Monjurul Alam,Md Rostom Ali

doi:10.3329/jbau.v17i4.44629

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

Highlights

More than 70 percent of Bangladesh’s population and 77 percent of its workforce lives in rural areas
Cost saved during mechanical harvesting over manual harvesting was found 57.61%, on the other hand, the benefit cost ratio (BCR) for the combine harvester is 1.88 that is higher than unity with an initial investment of BDT 18,00,000
Technical and financial performances indicating parameters of the combine harvester were determined carefully and all financial parameters were compared with manual harvesting system

Summary

Introduction

More than 70 percent of Bangladesh’s population and 77 percent of its workforce lives in rural areas. Agriculture sector contributes about 13.82 percent to the countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs more than 45 percent of total labor force (BBS, 2017). Paddy is a major cereal crop in agriculture which contribute to national food security and socio-economic development. Due to unavailability of mechanical harvesting system, significant amount of field losses of paddy in every year has been occurred due to natural calamities and shortage of time during harvesting period (Noby et al, 2018). Evidence indicates a progressive shrinking of rural labor availability, as workers migrate to cities or abroad to engage in more remunerative employment, in the garments and construction sectors (Zhang et al, 2014). Bangladesh needs to produce more food from the same land, while at the same time easing farm labor requirements resulting from the country’s increasingly profitable alternative forms of employment (Zhang et al, 2014)

Objectives

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Conclusion