Appropriate farm mechanization for enhancing employment generation in Manipur : A holistic approach
- Part 2 -

Yumnam Jakender, RK Tiwari, SK Chauhan *

Pedal operated thresher :

It consists of wire-loop type threshing cylinder operated by foot pedal or motor. It is suitable for threshing rice. It saves 20 per cent labour and 40 per cent operating time as compared to conventional method of hand beating on a wooden platform. It costs Rs. 5500 and its cost of operation is Rs. 28/q.

Manual fruit harvester:

A light weight manual fruit harvester was developed for harvesting of small fruits like peach, pear and plum in hilly areas. The fruit harvester was fitted with cutting blade, net type fruit holder and handle made of aluminium pipe of length 2.86 m. The cutting blade was semi-circular in shape and was actuated by rope fitted to the harvester.

The weight of the harvester was 0.6 kg. The net type fruit holder was fitted with cloth bag of approximately 2 kg fruit capacity. The user can use it for longer duration due to less weight and can go up to a height of 5.5 m.

Animal operated implements

Animal drawn improved wing plough:

It is light weight (8 kg) tillage equipment which is suitable for shallow puddling as well as ploughing for dry tillage up to 100 mm depth. The unit price is Rs 800. The size of the plough is 200 mm. The cost of operation is Rs. 1800/ha. The command area of the equipment is 1.5 ha/year.

Animal drawn improved wedge plough:

The hard pan of soil up to 200 mm depth can be ploughed using improved wedge plough. The weight of plough is 10.7 kg. The size of the equipment, unit price and cost of operation are 230 mm, Rs 1000 and Rs 1650/ha. It provides higher work rate (250 sq.m/h). It can be used in ploughing of dry tillage as well as for puddling operation in rice terraces. The command area of the equipment is1.5 ha/year.

Animal drawn improved helical blade puddler:

For puddling operation in rice terraces, improved helical blade puddler (size : 630 mm, weight : 19.6 kg and unit price : Rs 4000) can be operated by farmers for fine seedbed prepara- tion. It provides work rate of 880 sq.m/ha and cost of operation of Rs 500/ha. The annual command area of the equipment is 2 ha.

Animal drawn improved peg type puddler:

It is light weight puddling equipment (weight : 14 kg, unit price : Rs 3500) which enables better churning of soil in puddling op- eration. The overall dimensions of peg type puddler are 700x785x953 mm. The effective field capacity of pudller is 940 sq.m/h and cost of operation is Rs. 415/ha. The command area of the unit seedbed preparation is 2 ha/year in terraces.

Due to smaller diameter of rotor (size 200 mm) the puddling performance index is higher (0.62) due to more number of rotation causing better churning of the soil.

Animal drawn improved clod crusher-leveler-planker- puddler:

It is animal drawn equipment (size : 750 mm, weight : 18.5 kg, unit price : Rs. 4500) which can perform four operations (breaking of clods, leveling, planking and puddling). Three ground wheels are provided for transporting on approach roads. It shows higher work rate (700 sq.m/h). The cost of operation of equipment is Rs 620/ha and the command area of equipment is 2 ha/year.

Animal drawn multi-purpose tool frame:

It is animal driven equipment with attachment for different unit operations in major crops (including maize) except rice. The attachments for tillage, interculture, sowing and ridge making can be attached on the main frame of the tool frame.

The overall dimensions of tool frame are 730x700x960 mm and its weight is 19.8 kg. The unit cost of equipment with attachments is Rs 8500/-. The work rate of tool frame with seeding attachment for maize is 700 sq.m/h. The cost of operation for maize sowing comes out approximate Rs 630/ha. The command area of tool frame is 2 ha/annum.

Three row seed-cum-fertilizer drill :

It is an animal drawn simple, lightweight and compact machine to sow crops like wheat, gram, sorghum, soybean, lentil, pea, etc. and drill fertilizer in soil. It consists of tubular steel section frame on which various components are mounted. The row spacing of the seed drill can be adjusted as per the requirement of the crop being sown. The field capacity of the equipment is 0.10- 0.15 ha/h and it costs Rs 9,000.

Animal drawn multi-crop planter:

An animal drawn 3- row multi-crop planter is for planting of bold and small seeds. The planter consists of a frame with tool bar, modular seed boxes; furrow openers and ground wheel. The planter is also suitable for sowing of inter-crops as different seeds can be filled in different boxes.

The cost of 3-row planter is Rs 6,000. The cost of operation of the implement is Rs 270-360/ ha as compared to Rs 550/ha with traditional method. Power tiller operated equipment

Bench terracer-cum-leveller for hilly region:

A power tiller operated bench terrace-cum-leveller of 1.0 m width has capacity of 0.12 ha/h. The maximum volume of soil handled at a time by the terracer is 0.6 m 3 .

Air assisted seed drill:

The machine consists of an air blower, distributor head, seed pipe, seed hopper with fluted roller seed metering mechanism, lifting arrangement, seed cut- off clutch, tool bar, hoe type furrow openers and seating arrangement. The spacing between the rows can be adjusted from 300 mm for 4 rows to 600 mm for 2 rows. The machine covers 0.25 ha/h. The cost of operation with this machine is Rs. 750/ha as against Rs. 1200/ha for conventional method (seed drop behind country plough). There is a saving of Rs. 450/ha.

Power tiller operated manure spreader:

The unit consisted of main frame, manure tub, conveying mechanism, spreading mechanism and adjustable rear aperture. Quantity of manure spread is controlled by an adjustable flap at the rear of the manure tube.

The field capacity of the manure spreader is 0.9 ha/h and cost of operation is Rs 91/ha. The savings in cost and time of operation are 85% and 94% as compared to manual method of manure spreading. Width of coverage is 6 m.

Sweep cultivator:

It is a matching equipment for 6-8 hp size power tiller to perform interculture operation in soybean, sorghum, bengal gram and other wide spaced crops. It con- sists of main frame with hitch system, handle, drive wheel, tines and sweeps. Effective field capacity of equipment is 0.22 ha/h and unit price is Rs 8000.

Self-propelled equipment

Walking type 4 row paddy transplanter :

The four row walk behind type rice transplanter is equipped with 3.7 kW petrol engine which uses mat type nursery and transplants the seedlings uniformly in puddle condition.

The effective field capacity and field efficiency are 0.10 ha/h and 65%, respec- tively. The cost of equipment is Rs. 2.50 lakh.

To be continued....