Agricultural Engineering Institute (AEI) of National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) working under Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) aims to endorse farm mechanization in the country through designing, development, performance evaluation and commercialization of suitable agricultural mechanization technologies by involving both public and private sector organizations.
The Agricultural Engineering Institute (AEI), NARC under PARC has developed following Technologies and also commercialized it successfully.
The reaper – windrower harvests and windrows the wheat and rice crops. It is a tractor front mounted machine. It is an intermediate technology between manual and combine harvesting.
This institute has also developed this machine with collaboration of Rice- Wheat Consortium. The machine was specially made at AEI Workshop and tested at NARC fields during wheat harvesting season.
Wheat Straw Chopper – cum blower is a trailed behind machine both for transport and field operation modes. It harvests the stubbles as well as picks up the combine ejected straw from the field, chops it into “bhoosa” and blows it into a trolley hooked at its rear. It can be operated with a greater than 50 hp tractor with 2.2 m width of cut.
Moreover, the wide-ranging use of straw chopper would help in conserving the natural environment to a considerable extent besides complementing the use of modern coalesce harvesters in Pakistan.
Agricultural Mechanization is an important sub-sector for the national economy. Main aim of farm mechanization are to increase productivity of land and labor; bring in more area under cultivation; conserve energy and resources; sustain agriculture production; improve operator’s comfort and safety; protect environment; and increase farm profits.