Economic Evaluation of Collection, Transport and Utilization of Straw in the Swath of Wheat Stubble

摘要

The objectives of this work were to economically evaluate the collection, transport and utilization of the straw available in the swath left by the combine harvester in the wheat stubbles and to estimate the possible benefits for the farmers. In order to achieve these objectives, data about straw availability from 15 farms in three Chilean provinces generated in a recent research work were used. For the baling, collection and transport, three models of rotobalers and three of rectangular balers, a front loader mounted on a tractor, a wagon and workers were considered; for the off?the?farm transport the local tariff of 2.2 US$ km"1 was used. The Annual Equivalent Cost and the Net Present Value, at a 10 % real annual interest, indicators were used to obtain the operating costs of the tractors and machines and to evaluate the different alternatives. The results showed that the baling, collection and transport costs reachedrnvalues from 17.2 to 26.1 US$ ha1, the possible benefits for the farmers could reach values between 42.6 and 48.9 US$ ha~(-1), the Net Present Value could go from US$ 18,300 to 40,500 for farms from 10 to 100 wheat hectares and the farmers could benefit from the sale of their straw including transportation up to 50 to 80 km.