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Harvesting costs
Costs for harvesting paddy can make up a significant portion of the production costs of rice, therefore it is useful to evaluate harvesting costs. Costs of harvesting rice are often (but not always) estimated in terms of percent of grain output, as in the following examples from 2004:
- Vietnam: harvesting costs are 8% for manual collection by a crew and stationary thresher
- Philippines: harvesting costs are 15% for cutting by sickle and use of trailer mounted thresher
- China: harvesting costs are 6% by tractor-mounted combine harvester
The table below shows an example of costs of the three systems: manual harvesting (including cutting, threshing, cleaning); manual cutting + machine threshing/cleaning by own labor and machine, and manual cutting + machine threshing by contracted labor and machine. Please note that the table is a entirely fictitious (made up) example and that actual costs are location and time specific, meaning that they can vary by region and per season. By using a spreadsheet you can estimate harvesting costs for your own situation.
|
|
Manual cutting, threshing, cleaning |
Manual cutting and machine threshing by own labor + equipment |
Manual cutting, machine threshing by contracted labor + equipment |
|
1. LABOR |
|
|
|
|
Labor for cutting and gathering |
25 Man-days/ha |
25 Man-days/ha |
0 |
|
Labor for threshing |
15 Man-days/ha |
2 Man-days/ha |
0 |
|
Labor for cleaning + bagging |
8 Man-days/ha |
1 Man-hours/ha |
0 |
|
Labor rate |
$ 3 /day/person |
$3 /day/person |
0 |
|
Total labor requirement |
48 man-days |
28 man-days |
0 |
|
Total labor cost/ha |
$144 /ha |
$84/ha |
0 |
|
2. EQUIPMENT |
|
|
|
|
Purchase price thresher |
0 |
$1,000.00 |
0 |
|
Life of thresher |
0 |
2000 hr |
0 |
|
Capacity thresher |
0 |
1 ton/hr |
0 |
|
Use per year (100 ha @ 4 ton/ha) |
0 |
400 hr |
0 |
|
Capital cost/yr (excl interest) |
0 |
$200.--/yr |
0 |
|
Fuel (3 L/hr; 0.75 $/ltr) |
0 |
$900/yr |
0 |
|
Repair and Maintenance (15% of capital/yr) |
0 |
$150.--/yr |
0 |
|
Total equipment cost/ha |
0 |
$12.50/ha |
0 |
|
3. CONTRACTING |
|
|
|
|
Cost per ha (% of grain) |
0 |
0 |
12% |
|
Value of grain (4 ton/ha) |
0 |
0 |
$150 $/ton |
|
Total contracting cost/ha |
0 |
0 |
$72/ha |
|
TOTAL |
|
|
|
|
Labor+equip+contr |
$144/ha |
$96.50 |
$72/ha |
|
Estimated threshing and handling loss (% grain) |
5 % |
2 % |
3 % |
|
Expected grain yield |
4 ton/ha |
4 ton/ha |
4 ton/ha |
|
Costs of lost grain ($/ha) |
$30/ha |
$12/ha |
$18/ha |
|
Total harvesting cost |
$176/ha |
$108.50 |
$90/ha |
|
Total Harvesting costs-equivalent in grain |
29 % |
18 % |
15 % |
In general, costs of owning equipment are dependent on how often the machine is used. When comparing costs of ownership with contract hiring, there is a “break-even” point (expressed in terms of tons, ha’s or hours that the machine is used) above which ownership becomes more attractive than contract hiring.
Besides direct costs, there are a number of other factors the farmer/ station manager will have to consider when deciding whether to purchase or to contract hire machinery:
|
|
Ownership |
Contract hiring |
|
Timeliness of operation |
Machine is ready when needed |
Contractor may not be available when needed |
|
Repair, maintenance |
Own repair and maintenance needed to reduce downtime |
No expertise needed for repair, maintenance |
|
Quality of work |
Quality of operation is under control of farmer |
Quality of operation in control of contractor |
|
Cost |
Can be lower if there is sufficient work on the farm |
Costs not dependent of amount of work |
|
Skills required for operation |
Operational skills required |
No skills required at the farm |
|
Finance requirements |
Capital outlay + financing needed |
No large capital outlay needed |
