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Energy and Labour Utilization in Commercial Rice Processing Mills for Parboiled Rice

M. A. Zaman
Department of Farm Power & Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Fahmida Khatun
Department of Farm Power & Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

S. Akhter
Department of Agricultural Finance, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

AKM Saiful Islam
Farm Machinery and Post-harvest Technology Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

An effort was made to study the rice processing technology, energy and labour utilization in commercial rice processing mills for parboiled rice. For this purpose 20 selected rice mills of Gapalpur and Parbotipur upazilas were visited and relevant data were collected through field survey conducted during the period from November 2001 to February 2002. Average total energy used in the rice mills was estimated about 708.5 kWh/t. Of the total energy used, biomass energy comprised 91.74% (650.0 kWh/t), electrical 7.81% (55.3 kWh/t) and manual 0.45% (3.2 kWh/t). The average electrical energy used for a huller and a vibrating sieve was 36.7 kWh/t, whereas average energy used for lighting, fans and water pumps were 6.4, 0.8, 11.4 kWh/t, respectively. Locally made steel boilers and drum boilers were used with husk as fuel. Husk was required at the rate of 150-155 kg husk/t paddy for double steaming. Manual labour utilized in the rice mills averaged 42.77 man-hr/t (3.19 kWh/t). Maximum energy was required for carrying paddy, rice and other by-products in bags or baskets (14.48 man-hr/t), followed by manual separation of broken rice (12.11 man-hr/t), mechanical separation of head rice (5.35 man-hr/t), bagging and unbagging (4.04 man-hr/t), drying (4.04 man-hr/t), loading and unloading soaking tank (1.4 man-hr/t), feeding boiler furnace with husk (0.85 man-hr/t), and weighing (0.54 man-hr/t). The amount of labour required depended mainly on the walking distance, frequency of movement and the load being carried at a time. Wide variations were observed in carrying distances in 20 rice mills. Minimizing the carrying distances, through proper planning of the rice mill layout, could reduce the labour requirement for carrying. Excessive loads were carried on the head resulting in health hazards of the workers. The use of bucket trolley for carrying steamed paddy and two-wheel trolley for bags of paddy and rice would improve the work efficiency of the labourers. The number of labourers employed in a rice mill depended on the volume of paddy processed per day (mill capacity). Both male and female labourers were employed in the rice mills and gender-wise job preferences were observed.

Keywords: Commercial rice mills, Parboiled rice, Energy use, Labour utilization

Location: Parbotipur upazila of Dinajpur district and Gopalpur upazila of Tangail district, Bangladesh.

Start Date: 01-11-2001

End Date: 28-02-2002

Program Area: Postharvest and Agro-processing

Commodity: Performance evaluation

Objectives:

(a) To review the rice processing technology at different categories of rice processing mills of Bangladesh.

(b) To study the energy and labour utilization in the rice processing mills.

Methodology:

In this study 20 small-scale village level rice mills were visited for data collection. The selected sites were Parbotipur upazila of Dinajpur district and Gopalpur upazila of Tangail district. Due to limitations of time and resource, only 10 rice mills were investigated from each site. A field survey was conducted during the period from November 2001 to February 2002 for collecting necessary information about energy and labour utilization of the selected rice mills. A simple questionnaire was prepared for this purpose. Data were collected by personal contact at the mill site and direct interview with the mill owners, managers, technical persons and labourers working in the mills. Then the questions were asked and relevant information supplied by them was recorded directly in the data sheets. After completion of each interview the questionnaire was checked and verified to be sure that the answers to each item were reasonably correct and had been recorded properly. The data sheets were designed to collect information in local units. However, these local units were subsequently converted into international standard units. In rice mills manual labourers were employed for different activities such as loading, unloading, transportation, soaking, drying, milling, cleaning and bagging. The labourers include both male and female. The categories of staffs employed and the jobs assigned to each category of the labourers were studied. The duration of activities and the amount of paddy processed in each batch were recorded. To determine the labour requirement for carrying and its relation to carrying distance, walking distances between the component units and the time taken to walk the distance with load were measured. The amount of labour utilized was calculated as follows: Labour Utilization = Number of labourers employed (man) x time taken (hr) / Amount of paddy processed in a batch (t) x man-hr/t. Energy is utilized in the rice mills in three different forms such as manual, electrical and biomass energy. The amount of energy (kWh/t) in each form was estimated using standard method. To calculate the manual energy, the calculated value of manual labour in terms of man-hr/t was converted to kWh/t.The electrical energy was required for huller, water pumps to supply water to the boiler and the soaking tank and bulbs for lighting, fans for aeration and cleaning, etc. Detailed study on electrical energy use in selected rice mills were performed. Data on the hp of motors, number of motors and their operating hours were recorded. Similarly number of bulbs and tubes used for lighting, their wattage and operating hours were recorded. Energy consumption for each component was determined and then added to obtain total electrical energy converted in kWh/t. Steam was generated in the boiler by burning rice husk as fuel. Data on the batch size (weight of paddy processed in a batch, t), rice husk feeding rates in kg/hr, duration of feeding in hr, weight of rice husk fed per batch in kg and weight of rice husk obtained per batch after milling were recorded. From these data production and consumption of rice husk were calculated. Afterwards the energy consumption was calculated by multiplying kg husk/t of paddy and heating value of rice husk (4.34 kWh/kg husk).

Source of Information: J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 2(2): 325-334, 2004; ISSN 1810-3030.

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1. Government

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The amount of labour required depended mainly on the walking distance, frequency of movement and the load being carried at a time. Wide variations were observed in carrying distances in 20 rice mills. Minimizing the carrying distances, through proper planning of the rice mill layout, could reduce the labour requirement for carrying. Excessive loads were carried on the head resulting in health hazards of the workers. The use of bucket trolley for carrying steamed paddy and two-wheel trolley for bags of paddy and rice would improve the work efficiency of the labourers. The number of labourers employed in a rice mill depended on the volume of paddy processed per day (mill capacity). Both It was observed that the work efficiency of the labourers could be increased through use of suitable equipment and planned layout of the units. The use of bucket trolley for carrying steamed paddy and two-wheel trolley for bags of paddy and rice would improve the work efficiency of the labourers. Improvement of work efficiency, on the other hand could reduce the labour requirement and health hazards of the labourers.

Knowledge Management: Journal