Abstract
Rice harvesting in Kano State, northern part of Nigeria is normally done manually and usually which is time consuming and
highly labour intensive, hence there is need for a mechanical method of rice harvesting. A Self -propelled paddy reaper is a
mechanical means of harvesting rice which is more convenient than manual harvesting , yet majority of farmers within and
outside the study area find it difficult to adopt the use of paddy reaper, this may be because they are not certain of the
operating cost or grain losses during operation of the paddy reaper. As a result, this study aimed at creating a regression
model which will assist in predicting fuel consumption and grain losses of self -propelled paddy reaper, the equation generated
will suffice to minimize post-harvest grain losses. Jamila and Yardass varieties of rice were used for the experiment. Multiple
regression models for fuel consumption and grain loss were developed. The models were validated by plotting the predicted
values against observed values. The values of the coefficient of determination, R2; were 0.60 and 0.66 for f uel consumption
and grain loss respectively in the Jamila variety (V1). While 0.67 and 0.78 were for fuel consumption and grain loss
respectively in the Yardass variety (V2). This study shows that fuel consumption of the reaper could be reduced by reaping at
lower moisture content and lower cutting speed. The developed models for predicting the fuel consumption and grain loss
were in fairly close agreement with the observed values.

Key words: Fuel consumption, regression model, grain losses, paddy reaper, rice field