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Farmers learn to operate paddy transplantation machine

Staff Reporter

`The equipment will be most useful to farming community'

GOING HI-TECH: The machine can transplant about three acres a day. - Photo: N. Bashkaran

Krishnagiri: The operation of a machine to transplant paddy was demonstrated in a farmer's field at Mittapalli near here on Wednesday.

With manual transplanting being a labour-intensive operation, involving raising of nursery, transporting and transplanting of seedlings to the main field, the machine would be most useful to the farmers, the Deputy Director of Agriculture, G. Loganathan, said.

With over 13,000 hectares under paddy cultivation in the district, farmers could use the machine for the ensuing summer. The machine could transplant about three acres a day, ensuring a net saving of 40 per cent over manual transplanting methods.

The machine costs Rs. 1.38 lakhs and was marketed by a private company in Bangalore.

Farm subsidy

The Department of Agricultural Engineering had released a subsidy of Rs. 30,000 a machine for the benefit of farmers, he said. According to Collector, Mangat Ram Sharma, the district administration is ready to extend loan assistance with subsidy for self-help groups if they come forward to buy a machine.

Similarly, farmers who are interested in availing themselves of the subsidy can approach the Department of Agricultural Engineering at Krishnagiri.

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