Trials Comparing Semi-mechanised and Chopper Harvesting Methods over Three Seasons in Swaziland

The South African Sugar Association Experiment Station, Agricultural Engineering Department conducted a series of semi-mechanised versus fully mechanised harvesting trials on a large commercial estate in Swaziland over the 1998/1999, 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 seasons. During the trials machinery performance was measured, differences in the quality of cane delivered to the factory were determined, and associated infield cane losses were measured. The results of all three trials showed that infield cane losses were statistically significantly lower where the cane was cut manually and loaded mechanically, compared with cane harvested by chopper harvester. The three trials showed that the quality of cane delivered to the factory by the chopper harvester treatments was not statistically significantly different to that delivered by the manually harvested and mechanically loaded treatments. Mechanical loader and chopper harvester performance varied considerably depending on the type of machine, cane yield, and crop and field conditions.