A vegetable cutter, which can cut 35 varieties of vegetables using 11 blades, is one of the attractions at the three-day Krishi Yantra Mela which began here on Saturday.
Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (CAMPCO) has organised the mela at the Vivekananda College of Engineering and Technology.
N.R. Natarajan, Ponmani Industries, Coimbatore, which exhibited the vegetable cutter, said that the machine costs Rs. 20,000 and each blade costs Rs. 1,600.
ADVERTISEMENT
A consumer could select a blade of their choice for the home industry they intend to set up and this could also be used for domestic purposes. It was capable of cutting 100 to 150 kg of vegetables in an hour using electricity, he said.
From the same camp there was an areca leaf shredder-cum-generator machine with a power of 5 HP. The shredded areca leaves could also be used as fodder for cattle or simply could be spread out in areca nut gardens as bio-manure. The diesel-powered machine costs Rs. 1 lakh and it also works as a power generator.
Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Regional Centre, Coimbatore, displayed its various machines and equipment, including a banana central core slicer. It has developed 23 varieties of machines and equipment.
ADVERTISEMENT
Students of Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, Mangaluru, have displayed a manual jackfruit depulping machine. According to students Anil Kumar and Darshak, it can be used to remove the core and separate the pulp from the sliced pieces.
Another team of students from the same college have developed a cell phone-based technology to control the power switch in irrigation pumpsets. Sujay, Suraj and Shrajan said that it could be used to control the pump sets from up to 2 km. The fair has various types of areca nut peeling machines, areca nut palm climbers, irrigation systems, solar equipment, vehicles, coconut cutting machine, devices to keep away wild animals, trollies, electronic scales, vegetable seeds, food stalls, among others. CAMPCO sold its chocolates at 40 per cent discount.
The fair has over 200 stalls which attracted visitors more than the sessions.
Event is organised by Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd.
Over 200 stalls set up at the agri-machinery fair have attracted visitors