Labour Costs on the Vegetables: A Research on the location effect on salaries in Jiangsu Province, China

ABSTRACT: In this study, the labour requirement and labour cost of common vegetable cultivation were investigated to help agricultural enterprises and family farms establishing reasonable “working hour” management systems in Jiangsu Province. The labour requirement of each step of three type of producers, agriculture enterprises, family farms, and private vegetable growers, in three regions in Jiangsu Province, named north, middle and south Jiangsu, was investigated by on-site observation or questionnaire survey during 2018 and 2019. The labour cost of each step and each vegetable was counted according to the labour requirement and the salary level. The results indicated that “residue cleaning”, “soil preparation and bedding”, “plant regulation”, “auxin treatment of tomato flowers” and “hand pollination” accounted for higher proportions of labour cost amongst the entire vegetable culture process. No significant differences in the labour requirements of the investigated vegetables were reported amongst three regions in Jiangsu Province. However, the order of labour cost is south Jiangsu > north Jiangsu > middle Jiangsu, due to the salary difference amongst three regions. Watermelon, broccoli and chive are more suitable for growing by agricultural enterprises since they have relatively low unit labour and high prices. We established a method to calculate and analyze labour requirement and cost of vegetable production in Jiangsu Province, which also may be instructive for other regions. In addition, our results provided useful data for various vegetable producers to improve their labour management.

A comparative economic study on improved and non-improved native chicken practices in some selected areas of Bangladesh

Native chickens are important for the rural poor women and marginalized section for subsidiary income and safe nutrition. Considering that views, the study were conducted taking objectives is assessing the profitability of native chicken and to find the livelihood status of native chicken farmers. The study areas were selected from six districts, namely, Joypurhat Sadar under Joypurhat, Dinajpur Sadar under Dinajpur, Dumoria under Khulna, Kotalipara under Gopalgonj, Nokla under Sherpur and Sonagazi under Feni district on the basis of improved native chickens project implementation areas. The selected areas were consisted of 30 treatment groups and 30 control groups from each upazila. The total sample size was 360 (P/H). In the case of profitability, the treatment group earned BDT 3,450 per 10 birds per annum followed by control group earned BDT 2,476. The BCR was found 2.04 and 1.45, respectively for treatment and control group. It was evident that treatment group produced 60 native chickens annually and on the other hand, control group produced 30 native chickens. For control group, labour cost occupied 32 percent and the feed cost captured 23 percent. On the other hand, for treatment group, feed cost occupied 34 percent and the labour cost was 38 percent. Fifty percent farmers opined that they reared native chicken for additional family income followed by 37 percent home consumption, 9 percent ceremonies and 4 percent creating employment opportunity. Rearing of native chicken entirely depends on women’s decision but the usage of money is controlled by women and men. It was found that women dominated most activities in rearing native chicken. Based on the result of the study, 100 percent women was the decision maker for rearing native chicken in both groups. Decision on selling of native chicken made by women was 92.15 percent in treatment group and 73.28 percent in control group. Money received from native chicken was also controlled 78.26 percent in treatment group and 51.57 percent in control group by women. Lack of access to livestock extension service, bad eggs quality, access to credit also was the challenges for native chicken farmers covering 7 percent, 4 percent and 4 percent, respectively. From this study, it was clear that rearing native chicken farming brought positive changes in economic, social and specially women empowerment indicators. Bang. J. Livs. Res. Vol. 27 (1&2), 2020: P. 24-38

Generating Labour Cost Budget for a Construction-Oriented Fabrication Facility: Simulation-based Resource Scheduling Approach

A novel labour-hour budgeting methodology is proposed by integrating productivity concepts in project scheduling and budgeting to enhance the accuracy of labour cost budgeting for planning labour-intensive projects. The proposed methodology applies discrete event simulation approach to represent crew formation, labour resource utilization and labour resource flowing between consecutive activities, which allows for quantitatively characterizing the impact of labour semi-productive time on labour cost budgeting as a time-dependent variable. Simulation-based assessment of variations in crew sizes and labour allocations is conducive to reducing semi-productive time and thus enhancing the cost performance of the whole project. The proposed methodology is then applied in a real-world case study for planning steel girder fabrication projects in construction of highway bridges. Not limited to budgeting for labour resources in construction-oriented fabrication facility, the research contributions are also significant to other construction planning settings where limited resources are shared and utilized among different activities.

Comparative Analysis of Manual and Mechanised Yam Minisett Planting

Pain in yam cultivation has been identified as critical areas in yam cultivation. The aim of the study was to compare the manual and mechanised yam minisett planting. To address this problem, heart rate (HR) of workers during mounding and ridging, and planting were measured as well as assessing economic feasibility in mechanising yam planting. Polar watch (RS 800 CX) was used to measure HR of the operations. Hoe and cutlasses were used for mounding and ridging. The HR of tractor operator during planting was determined. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were done using GenStat software (VSN International, 2011). Statistical significance was carried out at p<0.05. The field capacity was 3.84 and 1.45 h/ha for mechanised and manual, respectively. The mean HR was 112.80 and 112.7 bpm for mounding and ridging respectively while 112.00, 132.00 bpm for mechanised and manual, respectively. Mechanised yam minisett planting reduces labour cost by 50%.

​Defoliants Harvest-aid Chemicals: Cost Effective Technology to Facilitate Synchronized Maturity for Mechanical Harvesting in Cotton: A Review

In the recent years, increasing labour cost and shortage of labour being the major constraints to follow manual harvesting in cotton in staggered manner. Further, it is very expensive and farmers would like to increasingly opt for mechanical harvesting. In this context, it is suggested that research should focus to reduce cost of cultivation substantially by promoting the use of synchronized maturity in cotton and use of defoliants to encourage mechanical harvesting. In agriculture, defoliants are used to eliminate the leaves of a crop plant so that they do not interfere with the harvesting by machinery. Early harvesting with good boll opening can also be achieved by use of defoliants. The use of defoliants also reduces the trash content in picked cotton which will also help in improving the quality of cotton. There is a need to identify suitable defoliant with suitable dose and time of application so as to facilitate mechanical harvesting in rainfed cotton. Some of the successful defoliants for uniform boll bursting and higher yield of cotton such as rthrel, rthepon, mepiquat chloride (MC), sodium salt and DU (Dropp Ultra) are the hormonal defoliants and TDZ thidiazuron butifos, merphos, tribufos and tribufate are the herbicidal defoliants. The best combination of thidiazuron + diuron (DCMU), pyraflufen ethyl, thidiazuron + diuroncellular isozyme, Ethephon + AMADS, ethephon + cyclanilide ethephon + tribufos Mepiquat chloride (MC) + cyclanilide may be recommended to facilitate mechanical harvesting in cotton.

Dining On Call: Outcomes of a hospital patient dining model

Dining On Call (DOC) is a hospital foodservice model allowing patients to order meals any time throughout the day and is delivered within 45 minutes of the order. It is positively correlated with patient satisfaction, improvements in malnutrition, and reducing costs. Pre- and post-DOC data were collected from BC Children’s Hospital, BC Women’s Hospital, and North York General Hospital (NYGH) using patient satisfaction surveys and tray waste audits to measure outcomes. Patient satisfaction scores increased at all hospitals. BC Children’s and Women’s hospitals demonstrated reductions in tray waste, food cost/meal/day, and labour cost/meal/day post-DOC. North York General Hospital observed decreases in tray waste; however, food cost/meal/day and labour cost/meal/day increased post-DOC. This research provides convincing evidence into the achievable benefits associated with DOC on mother and paediatric units in hospital settings. DOC may prove to be an effective dining model for hospitals seeking to improve patient outcomes and reduce overall costs.

Acceleration of Labour Cost Along with Deceleration of Productivity: How the Slovak Manufacturing Lost the Advantage of Low Unit Labour Cost

The recent development in the Slovak economy erased a significant competitive advantage of manufacturing – low labour cost. The paper analyses the driving factors of rising unit labour costs in the manufacturing sector. The paper aims to explain why the unexpectedly rapid loss of traditional competitive advantage took place in the group of V4 countries and why this phenomenon was particularly pronounced in Slovakia. The paper identifies the driving factors that caused a strong increase in labour costs in addition to factors that also caused a slowdown in productivity growth. The decomposition of ULC dynamics has shown that the primary problem in the case of Slovakia is a very significant slowdown in labour productivity growth. Especially, from a marginal perspective, the components of gross value added developed strongly in favour of increasing compensations of employees. The decrease in the working-age population represented a significant driving force of increasing labour cost (wages) along with a halt in productivity growth caused by relatively low investment rate and absence of convergence in capital-to-labour ratio. Such development was identified in all V4 countries; however, the least favourable trend took place in Slovakia.

Design of Automated Screen-Printing Machine

India being one of the growing countries still uses manual screen-printing methods which involves using bare hands to spread the ink across and film and aligning the film with the print surface along with loading and unloading of material. This process is very time consuming and results in a decline in production rate. Automating these movements of the process help in enhancing quality of the print and an increase in the production rates and process time which in turn reduces labour cost.