Comparative performance of chaff cutter with local Machete dao

Pig rearing is an important enterprise for the Tribal people of Kohima district. It is reared for its meat and is closely associated with their culture and tradition. The practice is to keep one or two pigs as backyard farming in-order to convert kitchen waste, industrial waste and green fodder into protein for human consumption. Freshly harvested green leaves from garden, forest and fields are chopped using dao which result in postural discomfort over time. The present study introduces manually operated chaff cutter with 2 blades and 3 blades in the district to overcome such constraints. The findings show that chaff cutter with 3 blades had the superiority over the other in various parameters. It had the capacity to cut 27.38 kg/hr over the local dao (19.35 kg/hr) showing an increase in output by 41.49 percent, operating cost for producing one quintal reduced from 280.77 to 196.30 and time spend to produce the same quantity was reduced by 43.75%. It eliminated complete pain from upper back, legs, neck and fingers, while reduced the severity of pain from the lower back, lower arms, shoulders, and hands.