Use of serrated sickle to increase farmer's productivity.

The sickle is still an ultimate choice hand tool for harvesting the new variety of rice. This preference continues. The sickles used by Balinese harvester are usually nonserrated. The sharpness of nonserrated sickles is reduced quickly, so the harvester needs time to sharpen them frequently, which mean time loss and productivity reduction. To solve this problem, research has been conducted using experimental treatment by subject design. Thirty-three harvesters voluntarily joined the study at the "Subak Yeh Ge" District of Kediri Tabanan Regency, using serrated and nonserrated sickles. The productivity was measured by dividing the number of paddy stalks cut every 15 minutes by increment of heart rate over the resting value. The opinions of harvesters about sickle performance were also collected. The results are as follows: 1. The sharpness of serrated sickles is more stable than nonserrated ones. 2. The use of serrated sickles reduces the workload and work time loss. 3. The productivity of harvesters using serrated sickles is always higher than those using nonserrated sickles, but significant productivity differences begin to appear from the second to the eighth 15-minute period (p < 0.05). 4. Decreased productivity in both groups occurred from the first 15-minute period, but significant differences occurred from the fourth period in the group using nonserrated sickles and at the eighth period in the group using serrated sickles. 5. By use of the heart rate and the WBGT index, it is shown that harvesting can be continuously done over an 8-hour period.