Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Development of a Motor-operated Maize Seeder for Marginal Farmers

Muhammad Ashik-E-Rabbani
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural university, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh

Md. Samiul Basir
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural university, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh

Shamma Tasnim Chowdhury
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural university, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Maize is one of the most growing crops in Bangladesh. Sowing of maize seed is a time-consuming, labor-oriented, and tedious operation. To overcome the problems in maize cultivation, a motor-operated maize seeder was designed and fabricated in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University. A 24 volt DC motor worked as a power unit. The speed of the seeder was fixed with an accelerator governing by a motor controller unit. The power transmission system was chain and sprocket for the drive wheel, and the gear pinion system was used to operate the seed 12-cell plate type seed metering device at a revolution ratio of 1:1.3. The machine possesses an effective field capacity of 0.119 ha/h, field efficiency of 85.86%, average distance of dropping seed 21.29 cm, and an average missing rate of 2.78%, respectively. The fabrication cost of the seeder was USD 142.85, excluding the battery. The financial analysis of the seeder revealed that business by this machine is profitable as the BCR and IRR were found to be 1.54 and 230% with a payback period of 0.43 years if the bank interest rate is 12%. Results also revealed that the machine would be profitable if it can sow in more than 4.95 ha of land per year. The effectiveness of sowing and financial analysis predicts that the machine can be a better option for marginal farmers in sowing maize with less labor orientation and ease of operation securing production cost.

Keywords: Annual use, Financial analysis, Maize seeder, Motor-operated seeder, Machine performance

Location: The Department of Farm Power and Machinery workshop of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-12-2016

End Date: 00-02-2017

Program Area: Farm Mechanization

Commodity: Seeder

Objectives:

To develop a motor-operated seeder and to test the field and financial performance of the seeder for maize seeding.

Methodology:

The motor-operated seeder was fabricated and tested in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery workshop of Bangladesh Agricultural University during December 2016 to February 2017. Field performances were carried out at the testing bed of departmental workshop during robi, the major growing season according to tillage methodology recommended by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute. The experimental site was a medium-high land containing sandy loam soil with low moisture content. Components of the motor-operated seeder: The main components of the seeder are a seed hopper, plate type seed metering device, motor, motor controller, starting switch, battery, accelerator/speed regulator, seed tube, furrow opener, runner wheel, supporting wheel and a handle. Seed hopper: It contained a seed and seed metering device. The capacity of that hopper was designed for 1 kg of seed. The hopper was made of mild steel (MS) sheet. The length of the hopper was 20.2 cm, width 25.4 cm, and height 12.7 cm. An isometric view of the seed hopper. Plate type seed metering device: The two plate-type seed metering devices were used in that seeder, which is made of plastic. The metering device adjusted the seed rate and seed spacing. The diameter of the metering device was 12 cm, with 8 cells open for passing the seed. Motor: A single-phase brushless type motor was used as the power unit. Specifications of motor used in the motor-operated seeder. Motor controller: A motor controller was a device or group of devices that serves to govern in some predetermined manner the performance of a motor. A motor controller was connected to a power source such as a battery pack or power supply. Battery and accessories: Two rechargeable batteries (Sealed Lead Acid Battery) of 12-volt were used as a power source to power the seeder. The dimension of the battery was 14.9 ×9.8 ×10 cm. It required two hours to charge those batteries by charging kit or adaptor. A starting switch and a modified accelerator were attached with the handle. An accelerator or speed regulator is a device that controls speed. This type of accelerator consists of a proximity sensor. Seed tube and furrow opener: The seed tube was a simple plastic tube through which seeds were passed from the metering device to soil. The seed tube was 254 mm long, and the diameter of the tube was 25.4 mm. It was attached to the opening of the seedbox. A schematic view of the seed tube. The furrow opener was made of an MS square bar. The length of the furrow opener was 254 mm, with the cutting edge of 30 mm. Power transmission system: A motor powered the maize seeder during the operation. The power is transmitted from the motor to the wheel shaft through a chain and sprocket. From the wheel shaft, power is transmitted to the runner wheel through direct coupling, and the power is provided to the seed metering device through the intermittent shaft using chain & sprocket and bevel gears. Bevel gears were adjusted with a 1:1.3 gear ratio. Thus the approximate revolution of the metering device was three-quarters of the drive wheel revolution. The flow diagram of the power transmission system. Determination of the performance of the seeder: To determine machine performance and field performance of the motor-operated seeder, laboratory tests were conducted at the workshop of the Department of Farm Power and Machinery on an artificial bed made with sand (6.4 m × 2.43 m). The land was prepared by a power tiller before testing the seeder machine. Large course aggregates were separated and broke into small-sized particles which were favorable for maize cultivation. Land preparation and other operations were done following the maize cultivation manual by Waddington (2018). Internal Rate of Return: The internal rate of return (IRR) is the value of the discount factor when the NPV is zero. The seeder can be said profitable if the IRR value is greater than the Bank interest rate. The IRR can be computed with the help of this formula (Hunt, 1977): IRR= Lower discount rate + {Difference between the discount rate × (Present worth of cash flow at the lower discount rate/Absolute difference between the present worth of cash flow at the two discount rates)} (11). Payback period: The payback period is the time within which the initial investment is returned as cash. The payback period can be calculated as the following formula (hunt, 1977): Payback period= total initial investment (USD)/ Net benefit (USD/yr.) (12). Economic use of seeder: Maize seeder can only be used in sowing operation, and the time of operation is only 50- 65 days in a year. For the rest of the year, the machine remains idle, and there is no use of the seeder. So, for determining economic use, a break-even analysis was carried out to calculate the minimum operation area per year.

Source of Information: J Bangladesh Agril Univ 18(4): 1065–1072, 2020 ISSN 1810-3030 (Print) 2408-8684 (Online)

Article Link (Online Journal): https://doi.org/10.5455/JBAU.104836

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The development of maize seeder was almost simple and easy to fabricate with locally available materials. The machine increases the sowing efficiency because of its efficiency, uniformity in sowing, and timeliness. It performs a sowing distance close to the standard value with a low missing rate. The fabrication cost of the motor-operated seeder was within the buying capacity of the marginal farmers of Bangladesh. The BCR was found higher than unity, and the IRR was greater than the bank interest rate. The payback period was found 0.43 years (29 operation days), and in this period, the machine will recover its manufacturing cost or buying cost. The analysis for annual use reveals that the machine will be beneficial if it can be used for more than 4.95 ha per year that will take only 29 operation days according to the field capacity. This time is much lower than the maximum use per year (65 days). So, the machine will bring profit for the rest operation days. The financial analysis indicates its business possibility as a machine and also in custom hire service. So, it can be concluded that the machine can be introduced to the farmers of Bangladesh as an effective and business potential machine.

Knowledge Management: Journal