Designe and Development and Evaluation of Pepper Harvester

Abstract

Kerala is the leading producer of Black Pepper, king of spices in India. The harvesting of pepper is of great concern to the farmers. The shortage of labour during harvesting and their high wages causes a burden to pepper farmers. The delay in harvest reduces quality. The machine developed was expected to bridge the gap between supply and demand of pepper. The machine consists of a motor, mainframe, harvesting and conveying unit and collecting bag. Initial testing of the developed model was conducted under field condition. The tests revealed that the developed model was successful and effective for harvesting pepper due to its better conveying mechanism towards the collecting bag. With few modifications, the harvester could be made available for commercial production.