Effects of Rice Combine Harvester on Postproduction Losses and Production Costs: The Case of Luzon, Philippines

This study quantified the effects of rice combine harvester (RCH) on rice output particularly on harvesting-threshing losses and production costs. The postproduction losses using different models of RCH were established following a randomized complete block design with two replications and these were compared with the traditional method of harvesting and threshing rice. Partial budget analysis was employed to determine the benefits derived by farmer-adopters using the data gathered from a one-shot cross sectional survey involving 448 respondents. Results of the field experiments revealed that postproduction losses with the three models of RCH did not differ significantly, ranging from 1.19% to 1.76% of the total yield.  Comparing the harvesting-threshing losses in using RCH and the traditional method, the use of RCH significantly reduced harvesting-threshing losses by 1.02 percentage points. Prevention of postharvest loss was more pronounced during the wet season harvest at 1.54 percent. From the point of view of the farmer-adopters, the use of RCH lowered harvesting costs by PhP 3,908.60/ha/ and gained additional PhP 718.40/ha for losses prevented by using RCH. Thus the farmer-adopter could potentially gains additional benefit of PhP 4,627.00/ha/cropping season. With these, the use of RCH has the potential to enhance rice competitiveness by lowering the production cost and preventing paddy loss by PhP1.12/kg or 9.56% of the current production cost.