Maize is one of the most growing crops in Bangladesh. Sowing of maize seed is a time consuming, labor oriented and tedious operation. To overcome the problems in maize cultivation, a power operated maize seeder was designed and fabricated in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery in Bangladesh Agricultural University. A 24 volt DC motor worked as power unit. The speed of the seeder was fixed with an accelerator governing by a motor controller unit. Power transmission system was chain and sprocket for drive wheel and gear pinion system to operate the seed 12-cell plate type seed metering device at a revolution ratio of 1:1.3. The machine possesses an effective field capacity of 0.119 ha/h, field efficiency of 85.86%, average distance of dropping seed 21.29 cm and an average missing rate of 2.78%, respectively. Fabrication cost of the seeder excluding battery was USD 142.85. Financial analysis of the seeder revealed that business by this machine is profitable as the BCR and IRR was found to be 1.54 and 230% with a payback period of 0.43 years if bank interest rate is 12%. Results also revealed that the machine would be profitable if it can sow in more than 4.95 ha of land per year. The effectiveness of sowing and financial analysis predict that the machine can be a better option for marginal farmers in sowing maize with less labor orientation and ease of operation securing production cost.
Key words: Annual use, financial analysis, maize seeder, power operated seeder, machine capacity
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