Performance Study of Manual Reaper Compared to Manual Harvesting for Rice and Wheat

Abstract

This research work was carried out to compare the performance of manual reaper against manual harvesting method for rice and wheat.  The average field capacity of manual reaper was 0.3482 ha/day for rice and 0.3236 ha/day for wheat with fuel consumption of 0.755 lit petrol/hr and 0.625 lit petrol/hr respectively. In manual harvesting, the average field capacity was 0.0312 ha/man-day and 0.0452 ha/man-day for rice and wheat respectively. It was revealed that using manual reaper, harvesting cost could be saved 58% for rice and 53% for wheat, consequently harvesting of selected crops by reaper was efficient than manual harvesting. It was also observed that if manual reaper works below break-even point 0.32 ha and 0.52 ha for rice and wheat respectively, it would not be economically feasible to farmers. Finally, manual reaper could be suggested as better mechanization for harvesting of rice and wheat, cultivated on fragmented lands.