Study on Performance Evaluation of Self propelled Reaper Jannatul Ferdows Nipa
Abstract Bangladesh is a nation of about 160 million people, living on about 55,000 sq miles (about the size of the state of Wisconsin in the USA) [1] 45% of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector. Timely harvesting is very much important to get better yield. In this case mechanization plays a big role using reaper. Field experiment was carried out for the Performance evaluation of reaper on rice crops at "UttarMonohorpur, Gangachara" at Rangpur district for Aush season during harvesting of BR 48 in the second week of April in 2014 and at "Bishmuri,Chaderhat ,Nilfamary" for Aman season during harvesting of BR 52 in 13 November in 2014 [2] Two different models were used for evaluating performance. For aush season Korean machine and for aman season Vietnam machine was used. Several measuring criteria's were considered during field experiment including operating speed, time of harvesting, fuel consumption, shattering loss, soil moisture, plant height density, field efficiency, grain loss before after harvesting, fixed costs, variable costs etc. .for machine 1field capacity was 0.1533 ha/hr, field efficiency 50% and break even point 3.65 ha and fuel consumption 1.37L/hr .for machine 2field capacity was 0.232 ha/hr, field efficiency 64% and break even point 3.81 ha and fuel consumption 0.74L/hr [3] Machine harvesting during peak period minimize labor requirement. But due to higher purchase price and lack of popularity use of reaper is not available.