In what was apparently a hurriedly organised function by the Agriculture Ministry at Mastamardi village of Belagavi taluk, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched hi-tech sugarcane harvesters and handed over 12 units to the Krishi Yantradhare Kendra (KYK) in the village on Wednesday.
Briefly addressing a small gathering on the occasion, he said that these mechanised harvesters were an answer to the growing shortage of sugarcane harvesting labourers. The government had decided to make available these harvesters to KYKs at hobli centres from where the farmers could rent them for sugarcane harvesting operations.
He stressed on the need for improvement in farm productivity to boost financial stability of the farmers. Agriculture could become a profit-making venture by improving productivity and by taking best advantage of scientific and technological innovations right from the stage of input level to harvesting processes, besides adopting the government’s pro-farmer schemes.
The growers need to install drip-irrigation systems to save water and boost yields. The government was providing 90% subsidy for the purpose, he added.
Earlier, Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said the government was providing 40 per cent subsidy (around Rs.38 lakh) towards purchase of sugarcane harvesters, which cost Rs.1.38 crore each. The cost of manual harvesting of the crop was around Rs.350 to Rs.375 per tonne while the government wants to bring it down to Rs.300 through these mechanised harvesters.
Normally farmers harvest one acre of sugarcane field in a day which could be done in just four hours by the mechanised harvesters. Another advantage of these machines was that the choppers cut whole cane into billets and directly dumped them into the trolley of a tractor or a truck, which meant enhanced sugar recovery percentage in the crop. The sugar mills had facilitated direct entry for the mechanically harvested cane to the crushers at their sites without making the growers to wait in queue for long hours. The cane leaves which are also chopped could be utilised for preparing organic manure for use in the field which would boost crop yield from 4 to 5 tonnes per acre.
Government Chief Whip Ashok Pattan, SSI Minister and district in-charge Ramesh L. Jarkiholi and senior officials of the district administration, police and agriculture departments were present.
