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Development and Adoption of Two Wheel Tractor Operated Potato Harvester (2018-19)

M A Hoque
Farm Machinery & Postharvest Process Engineering Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

M A Hossain
Farm Machinery & Postharvest Process Engineering Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

M I Hossain
Farm Machinery & Postharvest Process Engineering Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

B C Kundu
Farm Machinery & Postharvest Process Engineering Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

A two-wheel tractor driven potato harvester was developed and improved with locally available materials at Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division of BARI, Gazipur to facilitate small farmers to harvest their potatoes at low cost. The harvester was a semi-automatic digging machine consisting of digging blade, conveyer flat chain, guide plate and power transmission arrangement. The dimension of the potato planter was 900 mm ? 850 mm ? 950 mm. Field performance of potato harvester was evaluated at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jashore, Tuber Crop Research Substation, Bogura, ten farmers fields in Bogura and Jashore and Breeder Seed Production Station, Panchagarh during the Rabi season of 2018-19. Field performance of potato harvester was better than manual method at different locations of Bogura and Jashore. The highest field capacity was obtained at Gazipur (0.12 ha/h) followed by at Bogura (0.109 ha/h) and Jashore (0.107 ha/h). Potato harvester required labour 21 per ha compared of 60 labours per ha in traditional manual method. Total cost of potato harvesting by the potato harvester was Tk. 12023 per ha but manually harvesting method the cost was Tk. 29,600 per ha. Lifted tuber was found 94% for potato harvester whereas for manual method it was 66%. Damage tuber was 2% higher in manual harvesting method than the mechanical harvesting method. The experiment will be conducted next year.

Keywords: Potato harvester, Peeformance evaluation, Efficiency

Location: FMPE workshop, BARI, Gazipur; and RARS, Jashore; TCR Substation Bogura; and BSP Station, Panchagarh.

Start Date: 01-07-2018

End Date: 30-06-2019

Program Area: Farm Mechanization

Commodity: Harvester, Potato

Objectives:

To develop a potato harvester and to test its harvesting performance, and to compare the cost of harvesting of the potato harvester with manual harvesting method.

Methodology:

Power transmission system of existing potato harvester was belt pulley power transmission type. The potato planter was improved in power transmission systems. The new system was gear box power transmission type. Design consideration The design considerations for the development of power tiller operated potato harvester were i) The equipment it should be single-row pull type and suitable for power tiller (12 hp) ii) it should be multipurpose i. e., suitable for row-to-row spacing of 610 mm and early crop (60–65 days) without haulms cutting and main crop after haulms cutting; iii) it should be simple in construction, and easy to operate and inexpensive to maintain; iv) it should be robust enough for digging under dry field conditions. The designed potato harvester was fabricated in FMPE workshop. The construction materials and corresponding dimensions are shown. Overall length, width and height of the digger were 900 mm, 850 mm and 850 mm, respectively. Flat iron columns were welded on the blade in such a way that blade was inclined to the ground at an angle of 20° when column would vertical. Blade was 540 mm long and 325 mm wide and 6 mm sharpen at front. It was provided with a 50 x 50 x 6 mm angle iron at the rear bottom to increase its strength against bending. Single ridge opening devices could be bolted through opener bases at spacing of either 310 mm or 210 mm. In front of the conveyer chain there was high carbon steel shovels bolted. These can be replaced when worn out. Total set up can be moved forward or backward and also laterally depending upon the field conditions and row to row spacing of the crop. Operating power of potato harvester comes from fly wheel through belt pulley arrangement. Likewise, furrow guides, fitted on the sides of columns with the help of two bolts can also be moved up or down depending upon their wear status and fields conditions. Furrow guides prevent the digger from lateral movement and keep the ridge opening devices exactly below the potato ridges. Operation procedure After removing the haulms, potato harvester was used for digging potatoes. In this process, blade enters the ridge below the potato zone and cuts the ridge slice from the main soil mass. The slice with tubers comes over the conveyer chain that opens the whole mass in such a way that tubers are rolled and exposed. High rotating speed separated the tubers from soil and exposed on the soil surface. Tubers are collected manually. Potato harvester was tested in normal field moisture condition as well as dry field conditions at different forward speeds of operation at single row spacing of 60 cm, which was most prevalent in the farmers’ fields. Three segments of two-meter length in five strips were marked. Exposed and unexposed potatoes were lifted manually and weighed. Collection time was also recorded. Potato harvester operation time for covering 30 m length was recorded three times at all the speeds using stop watch. For harvesting short duration potato crop without haulms cutting, ridge opening, devices and furrow guides, and bare blade were used. This blade runs through the ridges below the potato zone. Ridge soil got loosened, while plants were slightly intact. Then manually, haulms were slightly turned to one side and polled out. This way most of the tubers get exposed and were lifted manually. Conventional manual potato harvesting method, indigenous plough used for digging and exposure the tubers. Data related to number of potato tubers exposed per unit area, number of damaged/injured tubers, tubers collection time and potato harvester operation time were recorded. For cost calculation, potato harvester purchase price, life, salvage value, bank interest rates, labour requirement were considered. Performance test of potato planters: The modified potato harvester was evaluated at Tuber Crops Research Sub-station, Bogura and Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jashore during 2018-19. The evaluation was also done in four farmers’ fields of Bogura and Jashore to popularization mechanized system among the farmers. The harvesting dates were 18-19 February 2019 in Bogura and 22 February and 13 March 2019 in Jashore.. The potato harvester was also widely used at Breeder Seed Production Centre, Debigange, Panchagarh for material strength analysis and improvement.Effective field efficiency (EFC), theoretical field capacity (TFC), and field efficiency (FE) were determined.

Source of Information: Annual Research Report 2018-2019, BARI, Gazipur

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Field capacity at Gazipur was 0.12 ha/h which was less at Bogura (0.109 ha/h) and Jashore (0.107ha/h) depending on operator skillness. Potato harvester required 21 man-days/ ha against 60 man-days/ ha in manual method at Gazipur. Harvesting cost by potato harvester was Tk. 12023 per ha but manually harvesting the cost was Tk. 29, 600 per ha, respectively. Potato found during second harvest for mechanical harvesting and manual methods were 1.35% and 5.67% at Bogura and 1.29% and 5.53% at Jashore. Lifted tuber was found for mechanical harvesting 94% whereas for manual method 66% in all locations. Damage tuber was 2% higher in manual harvesting than the mechanical harvesting. The experiment will be repeated next year.

Knowledge Management: Report/Proceedings