PhilMech bats for mechanizing camote harvest to cut farmers’ losses
THE Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) pushed for the development of farm equipment that will help camote planters reduce their postharvest losses.
Citing its study published this year, PhilMech said it found that the postharvest losses of sweet potato range from 31.21 percent to nearly 33 percent due to “inefficiency of existing manual and labor-intensive harvesting methods.”
In its study, titled “Assessment of the Postharvest Handling Systems of Fresh Sweet Potato,” PhilMech said “the harvesting operation of sweet potato can be mechanized using an efficient mechanical root crop harvester that can eventually reduce labor requirement and losses on uncollected roots.”
“I would consider this study on the possible postharvest interventions needed for sweet potato as pivotal, as lessened postharvest losses for the crop will help improve the quality and quantity of camote available for the market,” said PhilMech Executive Director Baldwin G. Jallorina Jr.
The study, conducted by the attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, surveyed 350 camote farmers in the provinces of Albay, Bataan, Tarlac and Northern Samar.
PhilMech said it is important to reduce camote farmers’ postharvest losses as it is the country’s third-most important food crop and it is also the seventh-most important food crop in the world.
The agency said the manual harvesting practice of camote farmers usually result in a “significant” amount of damaged crops, which fetch lower prices in the market. Farmers also incur postharvest losses in the shipping and transporting of camote from their farms to the market.
“Camote today is mostly harvested manually, requiring 30 to 50 laborers per hectare per day. Harvesting usually requires two days,” it said. “Harvesting loss due to uncollected and mechanically damaged roots ranged from 15.96 percent to 17.94 percent of marketable harvest.”
To reduce postharvest losses of camote, the PhilMech said its study recommended the development of farm equipment for harvesting the crop.
“A tractor-drawn implement for harvesting camote was initially developed by the Philippine Root Crop of the Visayas State University in Leyte, which PhilMech has proposed to evaluate as to its status of commercialization,” it said.
“There are also imported but costly mechanical harvesters that could do a single pass to clear the vines and digging out the tubers. The
PhilMech study recommended the imported harvester be localized in its design, so it could be manufactured locally and its cost reduced,” it added.
PhilMech said an indigenous harvester, which was developed by camote farmers in Tarlac, that could be attached to a farm tractor made of two mouldboard plows could also be improved.
“Besides the high postharvest losses of camote, most of the vines and leaves of camote, known as camote tops, are destroyed during harvesting by farmers and left to rot or are burned. PHilMech said camote tops could be processed into feeds or feed supplement in the form of sillage for carabao or cattle,” it added.
PhilMech said its study showed that about 18 tons of fresh camote vines and leaves could be harvested from 1 hectare.