BARI Power tiller operated potato planter was improved during 2017-18. The main working mechanism was redesigned and a drawing was drawn with AutoCAD software. The redesigned working parts were constructed with the available materials from local market. The steps of conventional hand planting method were considered and incorporated within the potato planter construction. The main functional part of the potato planter of the previous version is shown and that of the improved version is shown. The planter was design for ‘A’ grade (28-40 mm) potato seeds. Line to line distance to be maintained as 600 mm and seed to seed distance to be maintained as 250 mm.
Fabrication of potato planter
Potato planter was fabricated with locally available materials MS sheet, angle bar, steel shaft etc. Main functional components are (i) Potato seed hopper (ii) Gang of rotary blades (iii) Cup type metering mechanism (iv) Roller type bed maker. It acts as tilling the soil, place the whole tuber seeds in pre-determined distance and earthing up simultaneously.
Performance test of potato planters
The modified potato planter was evaluated at Tuber Crops Research Sub-station, Bogura and Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jashore during 2019-20 with a view to observe the accuracy of planting, mass awareness. The evaluation was also done in sixteen farmer’s field of Bogura and Jashore to popularization mechanized seeding among the farmers during 2019-20. The potato planter works as tilling, placing potato seeds in regular interval and earthing up simultaneously at one operation. BARI Alu-7, BARI Alu-25, BARI Alu-36 and BARI ALu 41 were selected for the trials. Date of planting at Bogura and Jashore were 24-27 November 2019, and 20-24 November 2019 respectively. The harvesting dates were 07-10 March 2020 at Bogura. The harvesting dates were 20-22 February 2020 at Jashore. The planter was also widely used at Breeder Seed Production Centre, Debigange, Panchagarh for material strength analysis and perfection. The machine planted fields were compared with the manual planting. Fertilizer, irrigation, pesticides and all others inputs were applied equally.
Economic analysis
Economic analysis of the potato planter was done. Operating cost of the machine included the fixed cost and variable cost. Fixed cost of the machine included capital consumption and shelter. Variable costs included labour, fuel, repair & maintenance. One labour was required for operating the machine.
Fixed cost
Fixed cost of the machine included annual depreciation, interest on investment, and shelter. Capital consumption included depreciation and interest.
- Capital consumption (CC)
CC = (P-S)CRF+Sxi (2)
P=Purchase price, Tk
S=Salvage value, Tk
CFR = i(1+i)L/ (1+i)L-1 (1)
i= Rate of interest (10%)
L=Life of machine, yr
- Shelter, T=3.0% of purchase price of the machine, Tk
Total fixed cost per year
FC = CC + T (2)
Variable Cost
In calculation of variable cost, the following relations were assumed
- Labour cost per hour, Lb=Tk man-h-1
- Fuel cost per hour, F=Lit h-1
- Repair cost, R= 0.035% of P
Total variable cost
VC = Lb + F +R (3)
Annual cost/operating cost
AC = FC + VC (4)