| Details of Innovation |
Mr. Somasundaram is a small farmer belonging to Arangottai village, Trichy District. He owns 4 acres of dry land. Farmers were suffering during monsoon due to delays in completing the sowing operations before the moisture dried. He was thinking of developing an instrument for performing quick sowing operations. Somasundaram was unable to continue living in his village as he could not fetch a reasonable income from drylands due to continuous drought. He has sold out his landed property and with this money he had moved to Chennai. He was 30 when he left his village.
After coming down to Chennai, he started marketing flowers. His business was able to ensure a minimum income for his family. Still, he kept thinking of developing an instrument to help dryland farmers take up timely sowing and reduce drudgery. Timely sowing is the key for success in dryland farming and keeping this in mind, he tried to develop a suitable implement.
He has studied up to the third standard. His keen observation, field experience and innate engineering skills have placed him in a better situation to design workable implements using low-cost and locally-available materials. After 25 years of experimentation, he has developed a hand-pushed seed drill with one or two tines, a bullock-drawn seed-drill with 3 to 5 tines, and a tractor-mounted seed-drill with 6 to 11 tines. He has patented these implements.
The simple, hand-pushed implement is made of steel frames and has a wooden handle. It can have one to two tines, and it can be used to sow a variety of millets and other bold-seeded crop. The depth of seeding, and the spacing between the rows and within the row can be adjusted. This light implement weighs about 30 kg., and it costs about Rs.3,500.It can cover about 0.2 hectares a day, according to Mr. Somasundaram.
The bullock-drawn seed drill has a steel framework and a seed box. It has three to five tines, and a can cover 0.8 to 1.2 ha. in a day. The cost of the labour-saving implement is Rs. 5,500. Under the traditional method of sowing, where the seeds are dropped behind the plough, it will cost Rs.350 to cover 0.4 hectares. By using this implement, the cost can be reduced to mere Rs.120 to seed the same area, according to Mr. Somasundaram.
The tractor-mounted seed drill has 6 to 11 tines, and it costs Rs. 18,500. It can cover one hectare in 2 hours. In these seed-drills, the steel seed-pipes can be changed to suit seeds of different size.
The implements can be fabricated with local materials, and this sturdy implement needs little maintenance. Any repair can be attended locally, according to Mr. S Gnanamani,one of three sons of this enterprising farmer, who fabricates all seed-drills.
The diameter in the seed pipes can be adjusted according to the type of seed, whether ragi or groundnut. |
Honey Bee Network Knowledge & Innovation Database (HBNKIND)