Ramalingayya Matpathi, a progressive farmer, has made a breakthrough in agriculture by simplifying the weeding method through an innovative and simple-to-operate hand-held weed removing equipment.
After hard work and testing for two years in different agriculture fields and his own agriculture field at V.K. Salagar in Aland taluk in Kalaburgi district, Ramalingayya Matpathi was able to perfect this simple-looking manually-operated weeding equipment.
Displaying the functioning of the equipment to presspersons here on Monday, Ramalingayya Matpathi said that he had submitted the design for patent at the Patent Office in Chennai.
According to the website of the Patent Office, the proposal submitted by the farmer for patent for his weeding machine is “awaiting examination” and the patent is yet to be given to the product.
The weeding equipment is assembled with the help of locally available iron rods, cutting blades that can be adjusted according to the weed in the field and space between crops.
Ramalingayya Matpathi said that he had priced the machine at an affordable Rs. 5,000.
He said that he was ready to sell the design to any entrepreneur for larger production. He said that weeds continued to be a major problem for farmers and nearly 40 per cent of the yield is lost due to weeds.
He said that the cost-effective manually operated weeding machine is best suited to small and marginal farmers for used in three to five acres of land. Farmers can stop depending on farm labour for weeding by introducing this equipment in their agriculture field. According to Ramalingayya Matpathi, a single person can operate and clean weed in about two acres of land in a day.
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