Development of a Motor-operated Maize Seeder for Marginal Farmers

Abstract

Maize is one of the most growing crops in Bangladesh. Sowing of maize seed is a time consuming, labor-oriented, and tedious operation. To overcome the problems in maize cultivation, a motoroperated maize seeder was designed and fabricated in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University. A 24 volt DC motor worked as a power unit. The speed of the seeder was fixed with an accelerator governing by a motor controller unit. The power transmission system was chain and sprocket for the drive wheel, and the gear pinion system was used to operate the seed 12-cell plate type seed metering device at a revolution ratio of 1:1.3. The machine possesses an effective field capacity of 0.119 ha/h, field efficiency of 85.86%, average distance of dropping seed 21.29 cm, and an average missing rate of 2.78%, respectively. The fabrication cost of the seeder was USD 142.85, excluding the battery. The financial analysis of the seeder revealed that business by this machine is profitable as the BCR and IRR were found to be 1.54 and 230% with a payback period of 0.43 years if the bank interest rate is 12%. Results also revealed that the machine would be profitable if it can sow in more than 4.95 ha of land per year. The effectiveness of sowing and financial analysis predicts that the machine can be a better option for marginal farmers in sowing maize with less labor orientation and ease of operation securing production cost.