MUMBAI, India, March 13 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202631026541 A) filed by Central Agricultural University; Dr. Utkarsh Dwivedi; Prof. Dr. N. S. Chauhan; Dr. Asif Beg; Er. Bharath Kumar Komatineni; Er. Amit Gupta; and Er. Chetan, Imphal, Manipur, on March 6, for 'eco-friendly gender-neutral harvester for cereal crops.'
Inventor(s) include Dr. Utkarsh Dwivedi; Prof. Dr. N. S. Chauhan; Dr. Asif Beg; Er. Bharath Kumar Komatineni; Er. Amit Gupta; and Er. Chetan.
The application for the patent was published on March 13, under issue no. 11/2026.
According to the abstract released by the Intellectual Property India: "This study focuses on the development and evaluation of a lightweight, battery-operated cereal crop harvester designed to address challenges associated with conventional internal combustion engine-operated vertical conveyor reapers. The conventional reapers are known for their noise, vibration, reliance on fossil fuels, and environmental impact. To overcome these issues, a lightweight, battery-operated cereal crop harvester with a cutting width of 500 mm was designed. The developed harvester, with overall dimensions of 1888 725 1150 mm and weighing 65 kg, was tested under various crop and machine parameters to determine its efficiency and performance. The developed harvester evaluated at optimized level with an average field capacity of 0.051 ha h-1 and a cutting efficiency of 94.19%. It required a maximum power of 270 W for cutting and 480 W for propelling the machine. The lightweight battery-operated cereal crop harvester operates effectively for 2 hours on a fully charged battery, with minimal power breakdown. It was found to produce vibration levels of 9.5 m s-2 and noise levels of 83.4 dB(A) during operation, and compared with conventional reaper and was found to be 96 dB (A) and 69 dB (A). Which are significantly lower for the developed harvester. Specifically, the hand vibration from the developed harvester was 2 to 2.5 times less than that of traditional vertical conveyor reapers. Economic analysis indicated that using the developed harvester can reduce labor costs by 73.8% and overall operational costs by 93%. With a payback period of 3 years and a benefit-cost ratio of 2.68, the developed harvester is economically valuable. Furthermore, manual harvesting by workers typically falls into the heavy work category, with oxygen consumption rates between 1.05 to 1.49 l min-1, varying by gender. The developed lightweight battery-operated cereal crop harvester provides a quieter, more efficient, and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional harvesting methods, offering significant cost savings and reduced physical strain for operators. FIELD OF THE INVENTION Eco-Friendly Gender-Neutral Harvester for Cereal Crops BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Farm mechanization is the use of the appropriate machinery for the timely completion of field operations and the effective application of various crop production inputs. In India, mechanical power accounted for 74.42% of total agricultural power in 2020-21 (Singh & Singh, 2021), which has increased to about 95% in 2021-22 (Singh et al., 2024). Mobile power continues to be critical for enhancing food grain output in the country. In 2020-21, India's power availability was 2.761 kW/ha, whereas in 2021-22 it reached 3.045 kW/ha, with ICAR further estimating around 3.126 kW/ha in 2024 (ICAR, 2024). The contribution of tractor, power tiller, diesel engine, electric motor, animal, and human power per hectare in 2020-21 was 1.64 kW (59.38%), 0.03 kW (1.02%), 0.39 kW (14.03%), 0.54 kW (19.57%), 0.084 kW (3.03%), and 0.080 kW (2.98%), respectively (Singh & Singh, 2021). In 2021-22, the corresponding values were 1.932 kW (63.45%), 0.020 kW (0.66%), 0.368 kW (12.09%), 0.568 kW (18.65%), 0.075 kW (2.46%), and 0.082 kW (2.69%), respectively (Singh et al., 2024). In order to enhance profitability of crop production activities, different inputs (seed, manure, water and labor) must be utilized in best possible manner as their availability is limited. Due to declining availability of farm labors, use of improved machine/implement for crucial farm operations, is the need of hour. The agriculture status of Sikkim is remained highly subsistence-oriented. Major obstacles to the State's agricultural development are the limited area of cultivable land, smaller and fragmented land holdings, terraces having narrow and varying width with difficulty in hilly terrains, diverse agro-climatic conditions prevailing at short distances, low farm income, declining labor availability for agriculture and allied activities, and lack of adequate supportive infrastructures. Uses of tractors, conventional power tillers (rated power: 5-10 kW) and large sized bullock drawn equipment (i.e. 3 row seed drill, cultivators, etc.) is limited to valley areas due to topography and smaller and narrow terraces. OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION 1. To design and develop a battery-operated cereal-crop harvester for terraces, 2. To evaluate performance and optimize operating parameters of the developed harvester for paddy crop, 3. To conduct ergonomic evaluation and cost economics of battery-operated cereal crop harvester. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In India, different types of harvesting tools and machinery are available in the market, and reapers are one of the popular agricultural machineries for crop harvesting. Different types of reapers are also available with different sizes, cutting mechanisms, and types of propelling. The reapers are suitable for the small and medium size fields. In the North-Eastern Hill (NEH) region of India, mostly the harvesting operation is performed traditionally (harvesting manually using sickle). This method is time-consuming, labor- intensive, and difficult to complete harvesting as per schedule. The sickle's shape and size of the vary region to region in India (Athawale and Singh, 2023). Gite & Agarwal (2000) noted that an improved (serrated) sickle reduced drudgery by about 16.5% compared to local plain sickles when harvesting wheat. In the NEH region, farmers are not able to use self- propelled vertical conveyer reaper in the market due to the hill (terrace) farming system as the weight and size of the reapers are not suitable for narrow terraces with non-uniform width. Further, these machines are subjected to wear and tear due to continuous friction between moving parts of the engine and transmission system. Timely repair and maintenance required for smooth working. Paddy harvesting is one of the field operations where the usage of battery powered machines has potential. A limited study has been conducted regarding the battery powered self-propelled harvesting system. As the environmental concerns and limitations of large harvesting equipment for marginal farmers and female laborers has been analyzed."
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