Er. Uttam Raj Timilsina(MSc.Engineering,IIT Roorkee) Professor of Agricultural Engineering,Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal uttamrajtimilsina@gmail.com *All Right Reserved** Uploaded and Shared by AgriYouthNepal

1. Selection and Economics of Farm
Machines and Equipments
Er.Uttam Raj Timilsina(MSc.Engineering,IIT
Roorkee)
Professor of Agricultural Engineering,AFU
uttamrajtimilsina@gmail.com, 9841684994
For
Batch 2069/2070,BSc.Ag,4th
semester(071/7/16-
071/10/15)
Course Code:AEN-301,Farm Power and
Machinery(1+1

2. Selection and Economics of Farm
Machines and Equipments
• Field capacity and Efficiency of farm
machineries
• Cost of Operation of Farm Machines-Fixed and
variable costs
• Feasibility of custom hiring of farm machines
and equipments in Nepal

3. • Field capacity of farm machine:-
 Theoretical field capacity:-It is the rate at which the
machine or equipment can cover a field while
performing its intended function or useful work without
considering the non productive time loss such as lost
time in turning at the end of field,stopping to add
fuel,to add seed,fertilizer etc and quick checking and
servicing the machine. It is usually measured and
expressed in term of coverage Ha/hr.The factors
involved in determining the field capacity are the width
of useful work of machine and speed of travel .

4. • Field capacity of farm machine:-
 Theoretical field capacity:-It is the rate at which the
machine or equipment can cover a field while performing
its intended function or useful work without considering
the non productive time loss such as lost time in turning
travel at the end of field ,overlapping travel, stopping to
add fuel, to add seed,fertilizer etc and quick checking and
servicing time the machine. It is usually measured and
expressed in term of coverage area/hr.The factors
involved in determining the field capacity are the width
of useful work of machine and speed of travel(km/hr) .

5. Theoretical Field capacity(TFC) can be
calculated as:-
TFC=S*W/10
Where :-
TFC=Theoretical Field Capacity(Ha/hr)
S= Speed of machine(m/hr)
W=Width of machine width(m)
10=factor calculated as 1Ha/1 km
= 10000/1000=10

6. • Effective Field Capacity(EFC):-The EFC of a machine is
an expression of the actual rate of doing work or
coverage of work per unit time. The unit time taken
into consideration is the actual time by reducing the
time loss of nonproductive operations such as as lost
time in turning travel at the end of field ,overlapping
travel, stopping machine to add fuel, to add
seed,fertilizer etc and quick checking and servicing
time the machine etc. It is usually measured and
expressed in term of coverage area per unit
time(Ha/Hr).

8.  Field Efficiency or working efficiency of farm machines :- It
is the ratio of EFC over TFC and multiplied by 100 .It gives
the effectiveness of work of a machine .It is expressed as:
FE(%)=EFC/TFC*100
EFC can also be calculated as EFC= FE/100*TFC
FE is always less than 100%
The field efficiency of different tractive works like plow
ranges from 74-80% ,disc harrow-77-90 %,seed drill-60-78
%,mower-77-80 %,Combine harvester-63-70 %

9.  Cost of operation of Farm machines:-The operation
cost of farm machine include the fixed cost and
variable cost.Calculating all fixed and variable costs
the operation cost of farm machines can be
estimated and on the basis of that operation cost the
hourly,dially,monthly rental cost as well as leasing
cost can be fixed
• Fixed cost generally includes- Original purchage
cost,Depreciation,Interest on
Investment,Taxes,Insurance,Shelter/Housing/rental
• Except depreciation other fixed cost can be taken as

10. • The variable costs includes those costs which
are a function of the amount of the use
resulting in the production process.These are
Fuel,lubricants,labor,repair and
maintenance,oils etc.

11. • Depreciation:- It is of course the largest single
item in the fixed cost.it is referred to as the loss in
value with the passing of time.The annual rate of
actual depreciation depends on the length of useful
life of the machine.It is calculated by different
methods as straight- line method,compound interest
method,constant percentage method and estimated
method.For calculating depreciation the appropriate
junk or selvage value of machine is taken as 10-15 %
of first cost or purchase cost of the machine.

12.  Depreciation/year=(First cost-salvage value)/years of
useful life
 Interest:-It is taken as bank loan interest if loan is
taken(12-16%) otherwise it is taken as saving
interest(3-5%) as the same money can be deposited in
bank at saving interest instead of investment on
buying farm machine.
 Taxes:-it is taken as government tax paid in
purchasing the machine-2% of first cost
 Insurance:-Taken as 0.25-0.5% of the first cost
 Housing:-it can be taken as 1-2 % of the first cost

13. • Variable cost:-
• Labor wages or labor charges:-it is a major part
of operating cost.Monthly labor wages to
operate farm machines are considered as higher
value of Rs.8000-10000/month
• Fuel and lubricants cost:-fuel consumption-
8lit/hr and market value is taken as Rs/lit
• Repairand maintenance cost:-8% of the first cost
• After calculating or estimating all the cost the
operation cost can be determined properly.

14. • Feasibility of custom hiring of farm machines and
equipments in Nepal:-Custom hiring is defined as the
hiring of men with machines to accomplish the jobs of
plowing the land, seeding the crop using seed drills,
harvesting and threshing the crops. Many farmers in
Nepal are marginal farmers with small land holding. Due
to low income ,small land holding, less and scattered
volume of work in crop season, lack of technical
knowledge and skills and low availability of machines in
the market many farmers prefer to use machine on
custom hiring for farming activities rather than investing
large amount of money on farm machines.

15. • In terai belt of Nepal there are few farmers who have more land to
justify economically the investment in equipment.They however may
be able to own,and operate farm machines to their own land as well
as to handle the hiring business or rental business to cover the
farming of large community locally as rental basis.The hiring business
also support to reduce the bad effect of weather and other hazards
by providing time forquick harvesting of matured standing crops in
farms.The use of machines for quick harvesting, threshing in time
also provides the opportunity for planting another crops timely in
season.Therefore there is better scope of custom hiring and leasing
of farm machines rather than investing on farm machines by group of
marginal farmers in Nepal.