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Tamil Nadu
USEFUL tool: A demonstration of a wetland paddy drum seeder at a paddy field in Nanmangalam village near Tambaram recently. TAMBARAM: In the southern suburbs of Chennai, which is witnessing massive infrastructure development and construction of commercial buildings, a farming village seems a tall order. But far from the dusty roads, adjacent to crowded localities near Keelkattalai and Medavakkam, lay Nanmangalam, one such village. There are a few acres of land where paddy is cultivated, thanks to copious availability of groundwater and technical assistance from the Agriculture Department. And latest in the line of equipment to assist the farmers improve productivity and help save precious money and time is the “wetland paddy drum seeder.” A formal demonstration, made for the first time in St.Thomas Mount Panchayat Union (also called St. Thomas Mount Block) was held recently in the paddy fields of Purushothaman. He is last among the farmers in the southern suburbs of Chennai, who persists with agriculture without yielding to the charms of real estate sharks. On the new equipment, officials of Agriculture Department said that the “drum seeder” was designed at Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore. And the equipment could help in direct seeding of paddy, which would not only save time, but also money for the farmers. According to conventional farming techniques, paddy seeds are sown and raised in a nursery for about a month before being transplanted in the fields. The entire process would cost nothing less than Rs.7,000 an acre, officials said. The new equipment would help in direct seeding, avoiding manual seeding and saving the time required for raising the “to-be transplanted paddy seedlings in the nurseries.” R. Raghuraman, Assistant Director, Agriculture Department, said the cost of the “drum seeder” was about Rs.5,700. It was available at a subsidised cost of Rs.4,200 to the farmers. The purpose behind designing the equipment was shortage of farm labourers and the high costs in hiring them if they were available. The “drum seeder” could be operated even by women. Direct seeding through the equipment would also increase the yield per acre. “Tests have shown that the yield after using the equipment is 30 bags of paddy per acre, while it is 20 bags per acre when conventional methods are followed,” Mr. Raghuraman said. Trials had proved its success and the Department would soon be launching a campaign to popularise the equipment among paddy cultivators in the southern suburbs of Chennai, mostly in villages around Tambaram. Farmers and non-governmental organisations willing to know more about the equipment can contact officials at the Agriculture Department of St. Thomas Mount Block in Chitlapakkam.
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