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Details Of Innovation
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Mr. K.Sankaranarayanan, 39, works as an officer in the Agricultural Development, at Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, South India. Two years back while working as farm manager at the Government Agricultural Farm at Nagamangalam he came across some practical difficulties in the manner paddy was transplanted. The problems identified were: * All farmers raise paddy crops more or less same time during the season. So there is heavy labor shortage at the time. * Yield from transplanted crop is comparatively less than from the direct sowing method * Direct sowing of paddy is more effective than tilling; the crop attains maturity well in advance i.e., 10 days earlier in the case of direct sowing. * Cost of cultivation through wages for transplanting is saved. With this idea, he contacted Mr.M.Gopal who is running a lathe workshop at Mayiladuthurai. With his requisition Mr. Gopal has designed a new direct paddy seed drill. But the dropping of seeds is not in uniform line as expected. For that Mr. Gopal provided a conveyor belt in the pvc pipe. With his idea he developed the direct paddy seed drill. This gave good results. Description of the direct sowing paddy seed drill This equipment consists of a 5.25" long and 0.5" wide PVC pipe which is connected with two 1.75" long diameter iron wheels on their lid. In the middle of the pipe, there is one hopper for seed filling. In this PVC pipe, 1 cm. diameter holes were made in a circular manner in a 10 row set a internal of 20 cm. In the inner side of the pipe then is a conveyor belt extends to both side from the middle. And there is a long T shaped handle for pulling the equipment. While pulling this equipment, the seeds get conveyed from the hopper to holes in the pipe. The seeds fell through holes of an internal diameter of 10 cm. Advantages: * This direct sowing method is an economic one. ie Rs. 3000/- per acre can be saved per acre. * Seed rate is reduced to 40 kg/acre compared to transplanting method which requires 60 kg/ acre. * Damage due to natural calamities is possible when the seed bed preparation is performed * 100% germination. * Tilling capacity increased. * Yield increased. * Unproductive tilling is usually not noticed.
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