A Computer Program for Agr-machinery Cost Estimation

Abstract

The computer program for machinery cost estimation (CP-Mace) is a

Windows based software program that can be run on a Windows XP or

higher system on computers. It is a user-friendly interactive program written

in VISUAL BASIC 6 programming language for machinery management. It

allows the user to interact with it by entering the required inputs and it will

carry out the interactive calculations. The program enables the user to print

out the output which is displayed on the screen.

The CP-Mace can predict the effective field capacity (EFC) for

different implements (fed/hr- ha/hr), calculates the total cost for tractor and

agricultural machine separately, calculate the total cost for the agricultural

operation per feddan and per hour and finally estimates total annual costs of

operating machinery for different field crops.

CP-Mace was successfully validated statistically (t-test) with

reference to Habeela agricultural scheme data season 2014/2015 and Iowa

State University model. The comparison reveals that there were no

significant differences.

The results indicated that the CP-Mace program could be applied to

any real-life case successfully and with confidence.