Comparative Evaluation of Developed Onion Stem and Root Cutter CumSorting Machine with Manual Cutting Method

In India, manual cutting of onion stem and root is still a practice. This is very labour intensive, drudgery prone and time consuming operation. For this reason, an onion stem and root cutter cum sorting machine that can be easily adapted in farmer’s field was developed. In this study, comparative evaluation and analysis of a developed onion stem and root cutter cum sorting machine with manual cutting method was performed. Major objective was to assess the performance, labor requirements and economic benefits of using the onion stem and root cutter over the manual cutting technique. The developed onion stem and root cutter cum sorting machine was designed to efficiently stem and root cut and separate grade onion bulbs from the onion crop with minimizing damage. The study was conducted in an onion field, comparing the cutter performance with the manual cutting method commonly employed in the region. The cost of the machine is found as 61190.00 Rs. with breakeven point was calculated as 139.79 h/year and payback period was found to be 3.38years taking profit as 20%. The newly developed machine saves 70.37% cost and 92.59% labour as compared to traditional sickle and 46.07 % cost and 82.60 % labour as compared to battery operated onion stem and root cutter at desired stem length.