Evaluation of a Traditional Rice Husking Mill

Abstract

Rice milling process is an important post harvest operation. Present day most of the traditional husking mills like Engleberg huller are being replaced by automatic and semi automatic mill. The study was undertaken to identify the present status of Engleberg type rice husking mill in terms of capacity, technology, quality, milling losses; identify and analyze the financial performance, constraints; and recommend the priority interventions for updating the rice husking mill. The capacity of the mill was identified as 0.2 ton per hr and the capacity utilization was found as 20.83%. The products of the husking mill were identified as whole rice 62.5%, broken rice 7.5%, husk & bran 25%, and loss 5% respectively. The annual operating cost was estimated as Tk. 101,998 per year. The operating cost was estimated as Tk. 56.67 per hour and Tk. 283.35 per ton. The revenue was estimated as Tk. 225,000 per year and net margin was estimated as Tk. 341.67 per ton. The benefit-cost ratio was found to be 2.21 which indicate the business is very profitable. The return on investment was estimated at 1.21, which means that the capital will be returned within several years. Engleberg huller mills are facing some problems which must overcome for sustainability of this mill. The estimated financial performances of the husking mill were found impressive and the business seems to be sustainable. However, to compete with the quality rice produced form automatic and semi-automatic rice mills improved modern technologies to be adopted in the existing Engleberg type rice husking mills.