Labour and Crew Planner
Labour is the line item that decides whether a banana enterprise works — and harvest is where most of it hides.
Banana farming is labour-intensive year round: desuckering, propping, mulching, spraying and above all the weekly harvest rhythm. This planner turns per-hectare task hours into person-days, the crew you must employ, annual cost and — the number that matters for business cases — labour cost per tonne. Use it next to the farm budget, where wages appear as a cost line, and the cash-flow planner, which pays them monthly.
Labour and crew planner
Task hours per hectare per year → crew, cost and cost per tonne.
The formulas#
Total hours/ha = Σ task hours per hectare
Person-days/ha = total hours ÷ hours per worker-day
Farm hours = hours/ha × area
Person-days = farm hours ÷ hours per day
Crew (FTE) = person-days ÷ working days per year (250 assumed)
Labour cost = person-days × wage per day
Cost per tonne = labour cost ÷ (yield × area)
Harvest share = harvest hours ÷ total hoursWorked example#
5 ha, defaults (845 h/ha total), 8-hour days, $15/day, 25 t/ha:
Farm hours = 845 × 5 = 4,225 h
Person-days = 4,225 ÷ 8 = 528.1
Crew = 528.1 ÷ 250 = 2.1 FTE workers
Labour cost = 528.1 × $15 = $7,922 per year
Cost per tonne = $7,922 ÷ (25 × 5) = $63.38/t
Harvest share = 320 ÷ 845 = 38% of all labourReading the results#
| Output | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Person-days | The unit you actually hire and roster — not "hours" |
| Crew (FTE) | Whether one household can cover it or casuals are needed at peaks |
| Labour cost | Goes straight into the farm budget and cash flow |
| Cost per tonne | Benchmarks your wage efficiency against the farm-gate price |
| Harvest share | If harvest exceeds ~45% of hours, yield or harvest practice is the lever, not supervision |
Next steps#
- Cost it: wages flow into the farm budget and cash-flow planner.
- The task rhythm itself: crop care and harvesting.
- What to buy vs hire: equipment and mechanisation.
- Record actual hours: record-keeping templates.