Economic Affairs

Garlic is a bulbous plant of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceous), native to central Asia. Garlic is well known for its medicinal properties such as antiseptic, antibacterial and anticancer properties. It is also used to cure several chronic diseases such as bites, headaches, intestinal worms, dermatitis and abdominal pain. Garlic is a labour-intensive crop which requires intensive labour even after uprooting. Garlic stalk cutting and grading are primary unit operations to make the product fit for the market. The manual garlic stalk cutting and grading is labour intensive and uninteresting work. To reduce the labour cost and increase the benefits to farmers, a garlic stalk cutter cum grader was developed. The capacity of the garlic stalk cum grader was 177.6 kg/h. To check the profitability of the machine to farmers, an economic analysis of the machine was conducted. The comparison of manual and machine operation revealed that the capacity of the machine was 9.83 times the manual operation. The cutting and grading cost of the machine was 75.3/q compared to the 852.48/q of manual operation. The annual profit and payback period of the machine, if operated for the whole working hours of the machine was 442910.7 and 0.112 years. The breakeven quantity analysis revealed that to avoid any losses 17.26 quintal garlic must be processed annualy using the machine.