Farmer invents tool to plant seedlings with correct spacing
For farmers: Chellamuthu of Nathakadaiyur using the device on his field.
ERODE: The cultivable area of paddy in Erode district, which was over 50,000 hectares, has started declining this year with many farmers switching over to sugarcane, sun flower, maize and tapioca cultivation. The reason is shortage of agriculture labourers.
Noticing the situation, the Agriculture department introduced Single Seedling Planting of paddy (System of Rice Intensification - SRI) in Samba crop in the district to reduce the cost of cultivation and increase the per hectare productivity. But the farmers found the method of planting difficult to adopt.
Now, Chellamuthu, a farmer of Nathakadaiyur, Kangeyam taluk, has developed a low cost device to plant paddy seedling quickly with correct spacing.
He told The Hindu on Friday that the device would certainly help the farmers. He said three iron rods of one metre height are welded together and a nylon rope is tied between two such welded rods. A distance of 20 cm is marked on the rope to plant the seedlings in correct spacing.
The length of the rope could be altered depending on the size of the field.
Assistant Director of Agriculture, Kangeyam, A. Prabakaran, said that eight to 10 labourers could cover one to one-and-a-half acres in a day if they used the tool. In Nathakadaiyur area, paddy transplantation was being done using this device on nearly four hectares.
Some farmers of Muthur, Mettupalayam and nearby villages were also adopting the SRI method using this new device. Assistant Agricultural Officer Natarajan helped the farmer in developing the tool, he said. It is stated that this year paddy would be cultivated under SRI method on over 5,000 hectares in the district.
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