Development of harvesting tool for drumstick (Moringa oleifera)

Abstract

Harvesting of fruits and vegetables is an inevitable need. Drumstick harvesting process faces a wide range of problems like that of time consuming and become inefficient due to heavy in weight of tool. It is very helpful and important allied in agriculture sector. Mechanization of harvesting operation will play a vital role in removing the negative attributes of the traditional harvesting technique and promote to use of developed harvesting techniques for drumstick with desired capacity. This paper shows the chronological development of harvesting tool and highlights on new concept of drumstick harvesting tool. The purpose of our paper is to design and develop and fabricate the prototype of harvesting tool. It is aimed at providing a base for the commercially production of harvesting tool, using locally available raw material at a relatively low cost. The drumstick harvesting tool was designed in telescopic nature to reach the variable height of the moringa tree with “V” shape serrated cutter at the top end. The minimum and maximum expansion length of the drumstick harvesting tool is 2.4-7.31 m respectively. The total weight of the harvesting tool was 2.8 kg that enables the easy carry by the farmer without any difficulties. The harvesting capacity of the drumstick harvest. The tool constitutes of a fiber plastic pipe, ‘V’ shape serrated cutter.