Farm Power & Machinery

Fruit Harvester

It is estimated that 70% of the potential of lasting quality of many fruits is predetermined at harvest; post harvest factors accounting for the remaining 30%. Certain harvest factors such as time of harvest, or harvest maturity and method of harvest also influence the keeping quality of perishables like fruits, besides their mechanical properties. In India, manual harvesting is in vogue using ladders, poles, ‘dhoti’, chippers, etc. The large size of fruit trees poses a great problem in manual harvesting resulting in more damage.
• Improved harvesting methods would help not only to reduce these losses but also improve harvesting to 40 to 65 kg/ha compared to 15 to 25 kg/ha with traditional methods.

There are two types of manually operated fruit harvesters such a fixed height type with wooden head and metal cutting blade and adjustable height type with metal head and metal cutting blade.