JOURNAL OF FOOD AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT, vol.9, pp.201-204, 2011 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, cost analysis was made based on the expenditure computations of four different olive harvesting methods (wood stick olive harvesting, wood rake harvesting, mechanical bough shaker + wood stick harvesting and electronic harvesting rake + wood stick olive harvesting) and comparison was made between the methods. Equivalent cost analysis was used to determine the best method for olive harvest. In the experiments, fuel consumption of gasoline-powered mechanical bough shaker was calculated by full tank method, and the energy consumption of electronic harvesting rake was found by reading electricity meter. The amount of olive collected by workers per unit time was determined by chronometer for each method, and the operating values were measured. As a result, the lowest cost per unit land was obtained for wood stick olive harvesting, wood rake olive harvesting, mechanical bough shaker + wood stick harvesting and electronic harvesting rake + wood stick olive harvesting methods, respectively. Timeliness problem occurred M wood rake and electronic harvesting rake methods, and olive harvest could not be finished in time. In the evaluation of timeliness cost of the methods, the lowest cost was obtained with mechanical bough shaker, wood stick, electronic harvesting rake and wood rake methods, respectively. Mechanical bough shaker + wood stick olive harvesting method was determined as the best method in terms of both cost and timeliness effectiveness. In addition, electronic harvesting rake should not be preferred for olive harvest due to its high cost and time consumption.