Transplanting Labour & Person-Days to Set the Field
Plan paddy
Enter the field area, the plant density and how many seedlings one worker sets per day to get the total plants and the person-days needed to transplant the whole field — so you can size the crew and finish in the window.
Plan your transplanting crew
Next: budget 66.8 person-days for transplanting — e.g. a crew of 5 finishes in about 13.4 days; line up enough hardened seedlings for 133,546 hills.
Output per person varies with method (random vs line/SRI transplanting), seedling age and field condition; mechanical transplanters change the maths entirely.
Transplanting labour — key facts
- Total plants
- area × plants per m²
- Person-days
- total plants ÷ rate per day
- Person-day
- one worker, one day
- Crew size
- person-days ÷ days available
- Density set by
- your plant spacing
- Typical paddy rate
- ≈ 1,000–2,000 hills/day
- Labour cost
- person-days × daily wage
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
Size the crew before the seedlings are ready
Transplanting is one of the most labour-hungry jobs of the season, and it has to happen in a narrow window while the seedlings are the right age and the field is prepared. Guess the crew too small and the field drags on for days, ageing the seedlings and cutting yield; guess too big and you pay for idle hands. The arithmetic is simple — total plants from area and density, then person-days from how fast one worker plants — but getting it right keeps the whole operation on schedule.
This tool gives the person-days, the total plants and the field area from the area, plant density and per-worker daily rate. Divide person-days by the days you have to find the crew, and multiply by the wage to budget. Pair it with the Intercrop Population, Yield Components and Monsoon Onset Sowing tools to plan the season end to end.
Right-size the crew
Turn person-days into workers for your deadline.
Finish in the window
Plant the field while seedlings are the ideal age.
Raise the right seedlings
Total plants tells the nursery how many to grow.
Budget the wage bill
Person-days times the daily rate is your cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are person-days calculated?+
First the tool finds the total plants to set: area in square metres × plants per square metre. Then it divides by how many seedlings one worker transplants in a day. Person-days = total plants ÷ plants-per-person-day. One person-day is a single worker working a single day, so 40 person-days could be 40 workers for one day, 10 workers for four days, or any combination that multiplies out the same.
What is plant density (plants per square metre)?+
It's how many seedlings you set in each square metre of field, fixed by your spacing. For example, 20 cm × 20 cm spacing gives 25 plants per square metre (1 ÷ 0.20 ÷ 0.20). Wider spacing means fewer plants and less labour; tighter spacing means more of both. Enter the density your crop and variety call for.
How many seedlings can one worker transplant per day?+
It varies widely with crop, method, soil and skill. Hand-transplanting puddled paddy often runs 1,000–2,000 hills per worker per day; vegetable seedlings into prepared beds can be faster or slower depending on plug size and spacing. Use a rate you've measured on your own farm for the best estimate, or a local benchmark to start.
What does the tool output?+
Three figures: the person-days needed, the total number of plants for the field, and the field area in a clear unit. Person-days drives your crew planning and wage cost; total plants tells you how many seedlings to raise in the nursery; area confirms the scale you entered.
How do I turn person-days into a crew and a schedule?+
Divide person-days by the number of days you have to finish. If you need 60 person-days done in 3 days, that's 20 workers a day. Transplanting is time-sensitive — seedlings have an ideal age window and fields must be ready — so back-solving the crew from your deadline keeps the operation on time.
Why does transplanting timing matter so much?+
Seedlings transplanted at the right age establish fastest and yield best; too young and they're fragile, too old and they're stunted and set back. A field that drags on for days because the crew was too small can miss that window. Sizing labour correctly up front lets the whole field go in during the ideal few days.
Can I use this to budget labour cost?+
Yes. Multiply the person-days by your daily wage rate to get the transplanting labour cost. Because the calculation scales linearly with area and density, you can quickly compare spacings or field sizes and see how each changes both the seedling count and the wage bill.
Does it work for machine transplanting?+
The same logic applies if you treat the machine-plus-operator as your unit and use its effective plants-per-day rate, though mechanical transplanters are usually rated in area per hour rather than plants per person. For manual and semi-manual crews the person-day model fits directly.
Does it work for any crop?+
Yes — paddy, tomato, chilli, brassicas, onion, tobacco and any transplanted crop follow the same arithmetic. Only the density and the per-worker daily rate change between crops; the structure of the calculation is universal.
How accurate are the figures?+
They're solid planning figures. Real output per worker drifts with weather, mud depth, seedling quality and breaks, so build in a small buffer and check progress on day one against the estimate. Use the result to size the crew and budget, then adjust as the field tells you.