Rice binding machine used for red quinoa harvest, 8 to 14 times faster than manual labor

Text by the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station

Taiwan quinoa, also known as red quinoa or goosefoot, is a native plant of the genus Chenopodium in Taiwan, China. It is cultivated most extensively in Taitung County, Hualien County and Pingtung County. At present, the cultivated area of Taiwan quinoa in Taitung County is about 150 hectares, with more planting in townships such as Daren, Dawu, Taimali, Jinfeng and Haiduan. It is a traditional crop cultivated by indigenous peoples, with rich nutritional content and health value, and is especially rich in dietary fiber.

Recently, demand for Taiwan quinoa has risen. The purchase price of unhulled seed kernels rose from 40 yuan/kg in 2008 (the 97th year of the Republic of China) to 180-220 yuan/kg in 2017 (the 106th year of the Republic of China), attracting many farmers to take up planting, but labor demand is high and costs are high too. The Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station studied the use of a rice binding machine for harvesting and found the results good.

Red quinoa harvesting requires high labor, and applying the "rice binding machine" works well

For red quinoa harvesting in Taitung, at present people must carry baskets on their backs or hold mesh bags to harvest, which is a high-labor-cost operation, requiring 5 people at the same time per 0.1 hectare. The operation method is hand-picking to remove the quinoa panicles, then placing them in large nylon bags, then transporting them to vehicles beside the field. Each 0.1 hectare takes an average of 8 hours, which is slow and has high labor costs.

To improve this time-consuming and labor-intensive operation method, a trial was conducted using a 179 c.c. two-row rice binding machine suitable for small-area rice harvesting to harvest the panicles. The results showed that at low speed the binding machine harvested 8 times faster than manual labor, and at high speed it was 14 times faster than manual labor. The bound quinoa panicles can be conveniently transported to the grain-drying yard to dry.