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;
- 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
|
- (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, hectares 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
|