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Post Harvest Losses and Labour Requirment of Rice Crop in Two Selected Villages of Mymensingh District

Chayan Kumer Saha
Lecturer
Department of Farm Power & Machinery Bangladesh Agricultural University Mymensingh

R. I. Sarker
Professor
Department of Farm Power & Machinery Bangladesh Agricultural University Mymensingh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

A field survey was conducted to study the post-harvest losses and labour employment of rice crops in two selected villages of Mymensingh district' during Aus and Aman seasons in 1999. Data were collected through pretested questionnaire of the common post-harvest operations such as threshing by animal treading, hand beating and pedal threshers; cleaning of threshed paddy by traditional winnowing; sun drying of paddy on mud ground, bamboo mat, at court yard and on roadside; parboiling by soaking paddy in clay pots; steaming in aluminum or burned clay pots and milling of paddy in huller mill. The total estimated paddy loss during threshing, cleaning, sun drying and parboiling operations were 9.49% and 7.79% for Aus and Aman crops respectively with weighted average of 8.62%. The average milling loss was 3.23%. Therefore, a total of 11.85% loss was accounted for the post harvest operations ( threshing to milling). The low loss estimates (less than 0.93%) in pedal threshing was comparable to hand beating. The losses were caused mainly due to improper handling, incomplete threshing, scattering, bird and domestic animals eating the grains, improper soaking, parboiling and drying, use of inefficient steel huller for both husking and polishing etc. The average labour employment for threshing and cleaning operations of paddy were 14 and 7 man-days /ha respectively. Similarly parboiling, drying and milling operations required 6, 2 and 2 man-days/ton respectively.

Keywords: Rice corp, Post harvest, Lobaur

Location: Kotwali thana of Mymensingh district

Start Date: 00-00-1999

End Date: 00-00-1999

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Performance

Objectives:

i) To assess field losses of existing post harvest operations.

ii) To find out labour requirement in post-production activities.

Methodology:

The selected sites were located at Kotwali thana of Mymensingh district. The two selected villages were Shutiakhali and Boira. A field survey was conducted during the Aus and Aman season of 1999. A presented survey questionnaire was used for this purpose. Data were collected by personal contact at the site, Each respondent was given a brief introduction about the purpose of the study. Questionnaires were completed item by item in a very simple and understable manner. All data were collected in local units and then converted to international units. The collected information were tabulated and summarized to calculate losses. Major part of the analysis was carried out using tabular approach and standard methods. All grain weights were converted to standard 14% moisture content (wet basis) before loss calculations. The labour employment was calculated from the collected information for threshing and cleaning operations in man-days/ha. The labour employment was also estimated for drying, parboiling and milling operations in man-days/ton.

Source of Information: Bangladesh J. Agri. Engg. 12 (1&2) 1-10: 2001

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The study has demonstrated that total loss estimation for threshing, cleaning, sun drying, parboiling, operations were found 9.49% and 7.79% for Aus and Aman crops respectively with weighted average of 8.62%. The milling loss was 3.23% for Aus crop. Therefore, a total of 11.85% loss was accounted for the post harvest operations ( threshing to milling). The low loss estimates (less than 0.93%) in pedal threshing was comparable to hand beating. The present study also confirms that the post harvest losses for both crops vary between 10 to 15%. The study has also demonstrated that the average labour requirement for threshing and cleaning operations of paddy were 14 man-days/ha and 7 man-days/ha respectively. The finding of the study also showed that farmers required 6, 2 and 2 man-days per ton of labour for parboiling, drying and milling operations respectively.

Knowledge Management: Journal