Mechanical Harvesting of Paprika Peppers in Spain

Abstract

Paprika pepper is a traditional crop in Spain. Unfortunately, it is labour intensive and increasing manpower costs, relative to the product value, are such that the crop is now economically unattractive. Harvesting is the operation that requires most hand work, thus it is the most interesting to mechanize. Pepper harvesters already exist, but it was necessary to find one that was able to harvest the varieties of paprika pepper that are grown in Spain.At first, green bean harvesters were tried, but these were not suitable to work with Spanish varieties of peppers. Similarly, an American open helix harvester used in Murcia (Spain) was also found to be unsatisfactory. As a result of these negative experiences, an experimental prototype paprika pepper harvester was designed and built in 1992, adapted to Spanish conditions. A commercial harvester was constructed in 1993 and this tested in the three main paprika pepper production regions of Spain, namely, Murcia, Extremadura, and Valle del Ebro from 1993-1995.With the variety “Negral”, 89 to 95% of the production was collected with 4 to 11% trash, depending on the state of the crop and harvesting dates. With another widespread variety “Ocal ”, 90 to 93% of fruits were recovered, with 1 to 7% trash. All these results were obtained when the crops were in the best condition. These results are economically interesting, and can be obtained if farmers give more attention to cultural practices that favour mechanical harvesting, such as straight rows, plants with the fruits as high over the soil as possible, and avoid stones, clods and other obstacles that can be collected by the harvester.