Design and development of turmeric harvesting machine

Abstract

Harvesting is the most labor intensive process in the agricultural sector. Time and availability of labor determines the price of the harvest. Turmeric is a crop that has been dominating the fields of India with almost 2.34 lakh hectare of land is solely dedicated to producing the spice in our country making India the largest producer and consumer of the commodity. Despite the monopoly in the production of the spice, there is no machine that covers the entire harvesting process of turmeric. The existing harvesters extract the rhizome and drop them behind as they are propelled forth, which are then segregated from the soil and collected by labours. The work aims at the design and development of a harvester that is capable of performing the entire harvesting process and is compatible to Indian agricultural fields. The machine is designed as an attachment to any small tractor (esp. Kubota 24HP). The power is to be taken from the PTO of the tractor. The entire harvesting process is divided into three major sub-processes which include the digger, conveyor, and the vibrator. The three sub-processes are to be integrated into a single harvester, with the help of mechanisms governing them, to harvest the rhizome and remove the soil without damaging the tender rhizome. The material selection and the geometric dimensions of each part of the turmeric harvesting machine is done. The turmeric harvesting machine is fabricated and tested successfully.