Udupi: Rice Transplanter Enters Coastal Districts – Will It be Boon or Bane for Farmers?
Pics and inputs: RK Durga Digitals
for Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (RD/CN)
Udupi, Aug 6: The Manam rice transplanter, an example of innovative technology, which makes farming easier by transplanting saplings, was demonstrated at a paddy field in Manipur, near Katapdy here on Monday August 4.
The demonstration was organized jointly by the association of district farmers, Manipur village committee, and Sri Guru Farms Munduje, Hiriyadka. A seminar on innovative farming, and mechanized paddy cultivation, was also held on the occasion.
About Rice Transplanter:
A rice transplanter is a specialized transplanter fitted to transplant rice seedlings onto paddy field.
Although rice is grown in areas other than Asia, rice transplanters are used mainly in East, Southeast, and South Asia. This is because rice can be grown without transplanting, by simply sowing seeds on field, and farmers outside Asia prefer this fuss-free way at the expense of reduced yield.
A common rice transplanter comprises:
- A seedling tray like a shed roof on which mat type rice nursery is set
- A seedling tray shifter that shifts the seedling tray like a carriage of typewriters; and
- plural pickup forks that pick up a seedling from mat type nursery on the seedling tray and put the seedling into the earth, as if the seedling were taken between human fingers.
Machine transplanting using rice transplanters requires considerably less time and labor than manual transplanting. It increases the approximate area that a person can plant from 700 to 10,000 square metres per day.
However, rice transplanters are considerably expensive for almost all Asian small-hold farmers. Rice transplanters are popular in industrialized countries where labor cost is high, for example in South Korea.
Rice transplanters were first developed in Japan in 1960s, whereas the earliest attempt to mechanize rice transplanting dates back to late 19th century. In Japan, development and spread of rice transplanters progressed rapidly during 1970s and 1980s
About Manam Rice Transplanter:
Manam rice transplanter was first launched in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, on May 16 by minister Pezhani Manickam. The introduction of mechanical rice transplanter in the district has been a boon to medium and large farm holders, since it reduces the dependence on manual agricultural labourers who are in short supply here.
The transplanter can work one acre farm land using 1.5 lts petrol within two hours. Made from Korean technology, it increases productivity by about 25 percent. It has hydraulic facility for easy operation on wet land and a water pump is attached for cleaning the machine.
Though it can be said that introduction of rice transplanter is a welcome move, one needs time to realize the pros and cons of the innovative technology. Indian farming is often called as gambling with rain. Now it seems that we are also gambling with technology. It is true that technology reduces work, increases efficiency and saves a lot of time. But at the same time, it also creates problems of unemployment. If rice transplanters are used, farmers need not employ labourers. This means that hundreds of families of the undivided district of Dakshina Kannada which solely depend on agricultural activities may soon have to go in search of other work. We may not even get to see, women engaged in transplanting rice seedlings in our fields while singing those melodious and lovely traditional songs. Instead we may end up hearing loud noise of the rice transplanter. So traditional farming soon may become a thing of the past in the coastal belt and our next generation may have to depend on photos and history books to know about it.