18/09/2020

On 15 September 2020, a field demonstration of groundnut pod removal machinery and farmers' training took place in Saliyapura, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. 

Thanks to the equipment available from the hub, farmers can harvest half an acre of groundnut in one hour instead of ten man-days - saving 465 USD per day.

Farmers were educated on advantages of mechanization, hiring machinery services and how to effecitively profit from agriculture. Farmers were also educated on the importance of timely harvesting to face global climatic changes.

This was all made possible through the collaboration between the government of Sri Lanka and FAO projects supported by Germany.

Learn more about the projects:

Capacity of the machine = 3 ha / day (8 hrs)  

Hiring cost of the machine = USD 135 (Rs. 25 000) / day 

Labour cost for manual harvesting = 8 USD (Rs. 1500) / day

Labour requirement for manual harvesting = 25 man-days/ha

Labour cost for manual harvesting per 3 ha (i.e. 75 man-days) = USD 600 (Rs. 112 500)

Cost saving per day = USD 465 (Rs. 87 500)