Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

New equipment comes in handy for farmers in Tirunelveli

Making its mark: Indigenously developed farming gear being tested in a field at Piraancheri in Tirunelveli district.

TIRUNELVELI: An indigenously developed ‘marker,’ an equipment necessary for planting of paddy seedlings in uniform spacing under System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technique, has been developed and introduced at Kadayam block of the district.

Planting paddy seedlings in line with a spacing of 25 cm is one of the latest developments and recommended by the Department of Agriculture for getting a higher yield. A new ‘marker’ designed and developed at the Agricultural Extension Centre, Kadayam, was tested recently in the field of one Krishnan at Piraancheri in Cheranmahadevi block under the guidance of three Assistant Directors of Agriculture. This is a simple and user-friendly device having three rows of nylon ropes of 20 feet length each and bamboo reapers fixed at 25 cm spacing with metal pipe handles attached to both ends to stretch it across the field.

Two farmhands are required to hold both ends at the ground level and four to five women can plant the seedlings. Three rows can be planted at one session after which the marker is shifted to the next row. It has been found that planting was done swiftly in almost perfect squares of 25 cm when this new equipment is used.

Commenting on the performance of this equipment, agricultural labourers said that they found it easy to operate it and could cover more area in a short period. When single nylon rope marked with 25 cm spacing was used, mud gets splattered on the face of the women workers, causing irritation to them. The new method has weeded out this problem.

Since planting paddy seedlings in line with a wider spacing of 25 cm is essential for operating the conoweeder effectively in between the rows of seedlings to convert weeds into manure and to aerate the soil, farmers have started practicing square planting of paddy. It is felt that this device can help in achieving this with reduced number of labourers. Besides, this device can be folded and carried by a woman easily as it weighs less than 5 kg.

“You can make this device locally and effortlessly. The Assistant Directors, who attempted this venture, opined that there is lot of scope for improvement and modification of this indigenously developed marker,” said J. Edgar Gonsalves, Assistant Director of Agriculture, Kadayam.

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