K C Roy
Chief Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Post harvest Process Engineering Division
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Gazipur-1701
M A Wohab
Senior Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Post harvest Process Engineering Division
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Gazipur-1701
M Nurul Amin
Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Post harvest Process Engineering Division
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Gazipur-1701
In Bangladesh, mangoes are harvested by a device made by farmers themselves with pleated bamboo and net made of jute rope. In this method fruits are detached from the end of pedicels resulting in a huge postharvest loss mainly due to stem-end rot disease. To cut the pedicels keeping 1 to 1.5 cm with the fruits, a mango-harvester was developed. The performance of the harvester was tested both at research station as well as farmers garden. Farmers were highly satisfied with the performance of the harvester. The harvester will be tested in other mango-growing areas to popularize it.
anthracnose, harvest, mango, pedicels, postharvest loss,
Gazipur, Chapai Nawabgonj
Postharvest and Agro-processing
1. To design and fabrication of a low-cost mango harvester
2. To test the performance of the mango harvester for harvesting of mango.
A mango-harvester was made of no. 6 galvanized wire (G.I), cutting knife, M.S. rod, nut bolts, GP sheet and jute rope net. With G.I. wire, a ring of 23 cm diameter was made. The 'V' shaped serrated cutting knife was welded to one end of the ring. On the other end of the ring, a clamp, made of G.P. sheet, was welded to attach bamboo pole. The net was attached to the ring to hold the mangoes when they are cut by knife. The cost of the harvester was only Tk. 50.00. During the development phase of the harvester, its efficacy was tested by fastening small weight similar to the weight of mango at the end of the pedicels of mangoes fell off at a young stage.
After the development of the harvester, it was tested to harvest mangoes at the fruit garden of Horticulture Research Centre, BARI, Joydebpur. Pedicels of the fruit could be cut by the knife of the harvester at any place very easily. However, only a few mangoes were available during the testing and these were harvested with 1 cm pedicels attached to the fruit. The harvester was tested at the Regional Horticulture Research Centre (RHRC) Chapainawabganj and also at a farmer’s garden in Chapainawabganj Sadar on 28 June and 17 July 2003.
Research Report
To retain the quality of harvested mangoes and to reduce the postharvest losses, a mango-harvester was developed. Performance test at research station and farmer’s garden was very encouraging. Farmers showed keen interest in using this harvester. By using this harvester, mangoes can be harvested at a faster rate and postharvest losses would be very low. Extensive field trial would be conducted next year to popularize the harvester.
Report/Proceedings, Booklet/Leaflet