Saving farmers costs and ensuring timely field operations in rice-wheat systems through scale appropriate mechanization
Manual harvesting of wheat and rice severely hampers profitability and creates drudgery for women and men farmers while compromising grain quality and timely establishment of subsequent crops in the farm rotation. CSISA has worked to validate the economic benefits of low-cost reaper technologies for smallholders and worked towards technology commercialization by engaging across the value chain....
SEE ALLManual harvesting of wheat and rice severely hampers profitability and creates drudgery for women and men farmers while compromising grain quality and timely establishment of subsequent crops in the farm rotation. CSISA has worked to validate the economic benefits of low-cost reaper technologies for smallholders and worked towards technology commercialization by engaging across the value chain. Results demonstrate that rice-wheat farmers can increase profitability by $120 per hectare per year in cost savings alone, while also providing benefits like reduced drudgery and enabling earlier planting of following crops..
SEE LESSStage 5: Scaling
Since 2017, CSISA has boosted rice and wheat reaper-harvester adoption by facilitating innovative partnerships between the private and public sectors. In the 2017 rice and 2018 wheat seasons, farmers harvested around 11,000 ha of rice and wheat using reapers.
Focus Areas:
Cultivation & Tools, Economic Growth and Trade and Economic Empowerment
Cultivation & Tools, Economic Growth and Trade and Economic EmpowermentSEE LESS
Implemented In:
Nepal and Bangladesh
Nepal and BangladeshSEE LESS
2
Countries Implemented In
Problem
Farm drudgery, high production costs, and delays associated with manual harvesting
}
Solution
Low-cost rice and wheat reaper technology technologies that is are accessible to smallholders through rural entrepreneurship and service provision models
Target Beneficiaries
Smallholders who cannot avail to access labor on time, female headed households in areas where male farm laborers have migrated, and where farmers cannot access machine combine harvesting
Competitive Advantage
Dramatically lower costs ($120 per hectare) for mechanized solutions to harvest. Reapers cost between ($400-$1,200 compared to combine harvesters ($5,000-vs $15,000)
The Team Behind the Innovation
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented by a team of scientists and change-makers with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Operating across South Asia, CSISA works to increase the adoption of resource-conserving and climate-resilient technologies and improves farmers’ access to markets and enterprise development.
EXECUTIVE TEAM INCLUDES WOMEN
