The Hindu Business Line : Manual wheat harvesting behind lower arrivals

Salvaging delays
A combine harvester saves time and money.
But manual harvesting helps in salvaging up to 90 per cent straw.
And farmers are getting higher prices for straw this year.

New Delhi April 18 Do low arrivals of wheat in mandis have anything to do with high milk prices? Well, if people on the ground are to be believed, there is some connection between the two, at least in Punjab and Haryana.

Use of combines

According to various estimates, roughly three-fourths of the crop in these two premier wheat-growing States is harvested using combines. A combine can harvest, thresh and clean the entire produce of one hectare within an hour's time. Further, the cost of custom hiring a combine comes to around Rs 500 an acre, i.e Rs 1,250 per hectare.

In contrast, if a farmer were to resort to manual harvesting, he would employ 20 man-days (i.e five workers over four days) to cover one hectare and expend about Rs 3,000. Moreover, the wheat that harvested has to be power-threshed to separate the grain from the straw. And that would cost another Rs 2,300 per hectare, not to mention the additional time of 7-8 hours.

Saving time, money

All put then, the combine harvester saves both time and money. But there is a big catch. Combine harvesting recovers very little: as the machines operate 30-40 cm above the ground, they leave behind long stalks, which then have to be separately salvaged using straw combines. Even after that, they lead to only 55-60 per cent straw recovery, whereas it is possible to salvage up to 90 per cent through the manual harvesting-power thresher route.

"This time, a big difference has been that farmers are getting Rs 4-5 per kg of straw, compared to Re 1 last year. So, they are less interested in combine harvesting and that is delaying the whole process," said Dr S.S. Ahuja, Head of the Department of Farm Power and Engineering at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. And all this, of course, reflects high milk prices that have generated extra demand for straw.

In Punjab, wheat yields average around 4.2 tonnes per hectare, with straw accounting for an equivalent quantity. However, through manual harvesting, farmers can salvage 0.75 to one tonne more straw per hectare as against combine harvesting.

Reaper-binders

"More recently, we have had reaper-binders, which are as effective as sickles in straw recovery. Moreover, these self-propelled machines can cover a hectare within 2.5 hours, while collecting the straws in bundles and binding them. Previously, farmers were using Italian-make machines, but now they are locally assembled," Dr Ahuja added.