Field Performance of Mini Combine Harvester Utilized for Rice Harvesting in Haor Areas of Bangladesh

The study was undertaken to evaluate the technical and economic performance of Sifang brand rice combine harvester in the haor area during the Boro season, 2020. Data on field capacity, time distribution in the harvesting loss, turning events, forward speed, fuel consumption, loss in harvesting, cost distribution and break-even area were collected. Harvesting speed ranged from 1.40-1.90 km h-1 and actual field capacity ranged from 0.09-0.12 ha h-1. Harvester machine was operated 1 (low) gear position. Crop density was observed higher, and the machine was operated at low speed to avoid clogging in the feeding section. The size of the land should be at least 500 m2 to operate the Sifang combine harvester having a cutting width of 1m at full capacity. Sifang combine harvester should be run the field having more than 25 m length. Combine harvester spent 45% time in harvesting¸ 17% time in turn, and the remaining 38% of the total time was expended in repairing, idle, work stop due to rain. The average fuel consumption was recorded as 17 l ha-1. The harvesting loss was observed at 2.13%. Grain was spilled away while gathering cut crops due to a lack of proper inclination of the header unit. The power delivery system should be modified to get the desired performance. The combine harvester was unable to develop sufficient traction in soft soil during the harvesting period in the haor area. The break-even area of the combine harvester was 7.5 ha. The combine harvester ought to be assessed under a wide scope of crop and soil conditions across various agro-ecological zones of Bangladesh. This would offer smallholder farmers assorted alternatives of rice harvesting mechanization to encourage future adoption of improved harvesting innovations.