This mechanic designs cost-effective transplanter for small ryots
Hyderabad: Repalle Shanmukha Rao is a mechanic in Mahabubabad. He works on oil engines and motors that farmers bring to him. While repairing them, he got to know about the problems, technical and otherwise, that besiege the farmers. Shortage of labour apart, finding the right transplanters that suit small scale farmers, finding the technicians to […]
Hyderabad: Repalle Shanmukha Rao is a mechanic in Mahabubabad. He works on oil engines and motors that farmers bring to him. While repairing them, he got to know about the problems, technical and otherwise, that besiege the farmers. Shortage of labour apart, finding the right transplanters that suit small scale farmers, finding the technicians to repair them and weeding out grass from cotton and chilli farms are the common problems that the farmers face. These apart, they toil in the hot sun throughout the day, which is a deterrent for many to come to work in the fields.
Among others, he devised a rice transplanter that is suited for small landholdings. The commercially available ones begin at Rs 2.5 lakh and are mainly suited for large farms. Shanmukha Rao says his version will be available for Rs 75,000 and will suit even farmers who have about three acres or so. The same transplanter can be used to execute works on farms of others for additional revenues, he says.
“Farmers are looking up to mechanisation due to shortage of labour. However, the machines available in the market do not suit local conditions. Only half the farm is covered at one go due to the huge size of the machine. It takes time to change the orientation and cover the remaining area. That is a problem for farmers,” says Shanmukha Rao.
Typically, women are engaged in transplanting works. They are paid Rs 300. Men are paid Rs 500. Eight women/men are needed to transplant one acre per day, making it a Rs 2,400-Rs 4,000 expense for the farmers. The large wheels of the conventional transplanter loosen the soil. This makes it difficult for the vehicle to move forward in the rainy season due to the sludge forming due to the tyre marks, he says.
The non-availability of technicians locally is also a problem for the farmers. “The farmers have a day or two to finish transplantation. While they are waiting for the technicians, the farmers in the surrounding farms do the transplantation. Once this is done, there is no scope to move the transplanter out,” he says about the transplanters in the market, which are priced above Rs 2.5 lakh. According to him, farmers want a tool that weighs less, whose spares are available locally and is suited for small farms.
Shanmukha Rao won many laurels for his works. Now, Telangana State Innovation Cell too has recognised him as a grassroots innovator. “I will set up a unit to make transplanters if I get funding support. I can get the facility up and running in about four months,” says the mechanic who has seen farmers and their farming issues from close quarters.
He also developed a ‘monowheel man riding power weeder’. The name explains it all — it has one wheel and has a seat for a person to operate it. This is mainly useful in cotton and chilli farms, which see grass and weeds growing in them. Normally, the farmers plough or use power weeders. “The power weeders do not have differential gears and therefore both wheels rotate simultaneously. In a car, if we are turning left, the left tyre halts and the right tyre moves. Since the power weeders lack this, it requires an additional effort from farmers to control it, putting pressure on shoulders,” says Shanmukha Rao, who keeps buying spares to assemble into new farm tools.
He studied till Class 10. “I am a mechanic and I learnt from my father. I have no formal training but understand the issue by looking at it. I do design, welding, and turning jobs myself,” he says. He also designed tent-on-wheels to offer shade to those who work on the farms. A 20ft X 8ft mobile shed accommodates about ten to 15 people under it. It has wheels on either side for the labour to move it forward or backwards.
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