Multi-Crop Reaper Machine for Rapid and Low-cost Harvesting of Rice and Wheat

The multi-crop reaper is an innovative machine that facilitates the rapid and low-cost harvesting of rice and wheat. Its small size and ease of operation and movement makes it ideal for Bangladesh’s small fields. Rice or wheat reaping efficiency is about 5 hours/ hectare, compared to 240 hours/ hectare if performed by hand labor. Still the majority of the rice and wheat grown in Bangladesh is harvested manually. Where farmers are unable to find or afford sufficient labor for harvesting, crop losses can before the crop even leaves the field. In addition, late rice harvesting also sets back dry season planting, and can cause large yield losses for the subsequent crop – up to 57 kg/ha lost per day of late planting in wheat, for example. This, use of the multi-crop reaper can save farmers time and money, and accelerate the turn-around time between crops. CIMMYT is expanding the opportunity for farmers to efficiently reaping rice and wheat crops by developing local service providers (LSP), who own reapers and supply their use to farmers at a small fee-for-service rate, and facilitating public-private partnerships with companies to make reapers widely available in Bangladesh. This short video shows how LSPs can make money by providing rice and wheat reaping services. In 2013, USAID established the CSISA-Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) project, a new CSISA initiative to accelerate CSISA’s impact in Bangladesh by increasing farmers’ access to scale-appropriate agricultural machinery. Led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in partnership with International Development Enterprises (iDE), CSISA-MI supports the use of reaper and focuses on getting the right technology for efficient farming into local markets. This video production was supported by USAID through the CSISA-MI project. The contents and opinions expressed in this video do not necessarily reflect views of USAID or the United States Government.