Appropriate farm mechanization for enhancing employment generation in Manipur : A holistic approach
- Part 3 -

Yumnam Jakender, RK Tiwari, SK Chauhan *

8 row rice transplanter:

It is used for transplanting of mat type seedlings in puddle soils. It is equipped with 2.4 kW diesel engine and has a fixed row spacing of 238 mm. It can transplant 0.12–0.15 ha/day by working at a speed of 1.1-1.5 km/h. The unit price is Rs. 2.25 lakh.

SRI power weeder:

It is suitable for timely weeding operation under all soil conditions in line sown paddy and SRI paddy. It has two weeding blades and powered by 1.3 kW engine having weight of 17 kg. The working width of the weeder is 150 mm. The unit cost and cost of operation are Rs. 40,000/- and Rs. 1100/ha, respectively. It saves 74 % in cost of operation as compared to manual weeding.

Boom sprayer:

The machine is operated by 3.75 kW diesel engine and is controlled by the operator from the handle. The machine consists of a light weight power tiller unit and a spraying unit.

Spray pump and two narrow pneumatic wheels get power from the engine through gears, chains and sprockets. One caster wheel is also provided at the rear, which acts as supporting wheel. It costs Rs 25,000/- (attachment only). It can cover 3-5 ha/day.

Multi orchard sprayer:

It consists of an HTP (horizontal triplex piston) pump, trailed type main chassis with transport wheels, chemical tank with hydraulic agitation system, cut off device and boom equipped with turbo nozzles. It is fitted with turbo nozzles with operating pressure of 883-1766 kPa. It generates droplets of 100-150 micron sizes. It is suitable for spraying chemicals. Its cost is Rs 30,000/-. It can cover 0.40- 0.70 ha/h at travel speed of 1.20-1.50 km/h.

Self-propelled walking type vertical conveyor reaper:

It is an engine operated, walk behind type harvester suitable for harvesting and windrowing cereals like wheat and paddy and oilseed crops. The reaper consists of engine, power transmission box, lugged wheels, cutter bar, crop row dividers, conveyor belts with lugs, star wheels, operating controls and a sturdy frame. The field capacity of the machine is 0.15-0.17 ha/h. There are savings of 90-95% in labour, time and cost of operation as compared to conventional method.

Self-propelled fodder harvester (cutter bar type):

The walk behind type self-propelled fodder harvester consists of 1450 mm cutter bar, mounted in the centre of the power transmission. The prime mover is a 3.75 kW diesel engine and power is transmitted through chains and sprockets. Its effective field capacity is 0.18 ha/h. The cost of operation with this machine is Rs. 1000/ha as compared to Rs. 2500/ha by manual harvesting.

Power operated onion de-topper cum grader:

It is suitable for de-topping and grading of onion crop. It is operated by two single phase 0.75 kW electric motors. The detopping capacity and efficiency of the machine are 238 kg/ h and 86%, respectively. The unit cost and cost of operation of machine are Rs. 85000/- and 256 Rs./t, respectively.

Axial flow multi-crop thresher for hilly region:

The axial flow multi-crop thresher is operated by single phase 1.5 kW motor/power tiller engine for threshing of cowpea, soybean, black gram, paddy and wheat crops. The output capacity of machine ranges 80-100 kg/h. Total losses vary 2.45-2.78%.

Whole crop maize thresher:

A whole crop maize thresher is used for shelling of maize cob and simultaneously converting stalk to chaff. The thresher is designed for 5.5 kW power with spike tooth cylinder having 6-7 bolts per row on periphery. The output capacity of whole crop maize thresher is 210 kg/h.

CIAE multi-crop thresher:

It is suitable for threshing wheat, maize, sorghum, rice, gram, soybean, mustard and linseed crops. It consists of spike tooth cylinder, aspirator type blower and sieve shaker. Two top covers, three concaves, three sieves and variable cylinder speeds (7-21 m/s) are provided for threshing different crops.

Multi-crop plot thresher:

It is suitable for precision threshing samples of wheat, gram, sorghum, soybean and pearl millet. It consists of a spike tooth cylinder, concave, aspirator blower and sieve shaker. The capacity of this equipment is 3-4 times higher over manual method of threshing crop samples. Its grain recovery is over 99.5%.

It costs Rs. 28,000/- with motor and cost of operation is Rs. 80-130/q. Power operated maize dehusker-cum-sheller: The machine has threshing cylinder of 495 x 1460 mm size with peg type drum. It uses centrifugal type blower. The output of machine varies from 16.9 to 20.5 q/h .

Tractor operated equipment/machine

Pulverizing roller attachment to tiller:

Pulverizing roller is an attachment to commercially available cultivator. It consists of star wheels, central shaft, pulverizing members, mounting link and depth control tee. The cost of machine is Rs. 6,500/- and field capacity is 0.4 ha/h. The savings in fuel and time with this machine are 20-35% and 20-30%, respectively. It saves 20-30 percent water requirement for paddy fields.

Check basin former:

The machine forms check basins of 2x6 m size and has an effective field capacity of 0.15 ha/h. The cost of the equipment is Rs. 50,000/- and cost of operation is Rs. 3073/ha.

Zero-till seed-cum-fertilizer drill:

It has been developed to sow wheat directly in rice harvested fields without preparing the seedbed. It consists of tubular steel section frame, seed and fertilizer boxes, fluted roller metering mechanism, two depth control wheels, inverted 'T' type furrow openers and ground wheel with lugs. The field capacity of the machine is 0.36 ha/h in single pass. The cost of the implement is Rs. 22,000-25,000/unit. The cost of digging turmeric with the implement is Rs. 4830/ha.

Tractor mounted fodder harvester:

The tractor operated flail type harvester cum chopper cum is used for harvesting, chopping and loading operations simultaneously. It can be used for harvesting bajra, sorghum, maize, berseem and oats with height from 1.0 to 2.5 m. The effective field capacity and cost of operation are 0.20 ha/h and Rs 1500/ha, respectively. The unit price of machine is Rs. 2.00 lakh.

Tractor mounted root crop harvester-cum-elevator:

The root crop harvester-cum-elevator was developed by PAU, Ludhiana for digging onion and other root crops. The field capacity of the machine was 0.28, 0.24, 0.21 and 0.21 ha/h for digging of carrot, potato, garlic and onion crops, respectively. The approximate cost of the machine is Rs. 40,000/-. The saving in labour range from 62 to 71.

Tractor operated banana clump remover:

A tractor operated banana clump remover is developed by adopting frame of nine-tyne cultivator. Two sub-soilers perform as a fork for removing the banana clump. A deflector is provided to push the soil sideways. The field capacity of machine is 0.5 ha/h. The cost of manual digging of the clumps comes to Rs. 2000-2500/ha. The cost of operation with the equipment is Rs 700/ha. Thus, there is a saving of Rs. 1800/ha.

Tractor mounted banana shredder:

The banana stem shredder helps in disposing of the stem immediately after harvest. The shredding unit consisted of 4 blades placed perpendicular to each other at 2.25 m distance. Additionally, 12 nos. of spikes with flat cutting edge are fitted with a gap of 120 mm between the rows.

The blades are driven by the PTO of the tractor with a bevel gear box and the hopper is trapezoidal in shape with a height of 800 mm. It takes 1.2 minutes to shred the stem having average height of 2.40 m. The cost of operation of this machine is 300/h. ()

concluded....