Chorao Farmers Club tests Agriculture Machinery

The Chorao Farmers Club, will be testing the feasibility of mechanised paddy productionin order to evaluate the usefulness and cost effectiveness of an 8-row paddy transplanter on a test plot in Chorao island.

With support from The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and NABARD and under the guidance of the Department of Agriculture and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, the Chorao Farmers Club will be transplanting paddy seedling using a transplanter on Monday 20th July.

The members of the Chorao Farmers Club, who have a high dependence on rice cultivation, have been dogged by labour availability problems in recent years. The shortage in labour availability coupled with increasingly high labour costs have been contributing to the retardation of agriculture in the state. The use of the paddy transplanter is expected to significantly reduce the labour cost required (by upto 50%) during the transplanting of paddy seedlings from the nursery into the fields – which is one of the largest components of overall labour costs in the cultivation of paddy. The chart below shows this activity makes up about 31% of the total operative costs of paddy production when labour is hired. This also cuts down the time required for the transplanting process by over 90%.

Source: Chorao Farmers Club experiment for the paddy season in 2008

In order to use this transplanter the main change required by a farmer is in the plantation of the nursery. Thick mats of seedlings need to be developed in what is known as a ‘Dapog Nursery’. These can be compared with the ‘tiles’ of fine grass available for planting lawns. Specific sized seedling-tiles are fed into the transplanter, which can plant 8 rows in one go, and there is a predetermined distance at which clumps of 5-7 seedlings will be pulled out from the ‘tile’ and transplanted. Typically, this transplanter can cover 1 acre (approximately 4,000 sq.mts) in two hours.

To Mechanise or not…

Agriculture in Goa has taken a backseat in terms of a way of life as well as a means of livelihood. High levels of urbanization, education and family incomes and a rapidly developing real estate market, coupled with high labour costs are some of the factors that seem to propel farmers away from their land towards white-collar jobs in cities. Despite various government schemes, assistance from relevant departments and engagement of banks it has been difficult to revive interest in agriculture in the state.

In order to address the problem of high labour costs and increasing  difficulty in getting labour, the Club has decided to undertake an experiment with mechanisation, supported by NABARD, KVK, Dpt. of Agriculture and TERI. At the end of this experiment we want to be able to decide whether mechanisation is the way forward or not.

The aim of this experiment is to compare costs and yields from four different planting methods i.e.

1. Broadcasting of seeds (scattering seeds in the field)
2. Manual transplanting of 18-21day old seedling from a nursery
3. Drum seeder
4. 8-Row mechanical transplanter

The variety of rice used for this purpose is Revati.

We plan to take a plot of land and divide it into 4 equal parts, one for each method. Plant the paddy as per each of the 4 methods above and track costs associated with it (labour, time, machinery hired etc…) and eventually compare yields.

For techniques 1 & 3 raising a nursery is not required, though paddy seeds need to be pre-soaked for a minimum of 24-36 hours.

For techniques 2 & 4 raising a nursery is imperative. For manual transplantation a regular nursery is planted. For the mechanical transplanter, a Dapog nursery (portable nursery – a Philippine  method introduced in India) is planted.

At present, the site has been selected for the experiment. The nurseries have been planted. Transplantation has been planned in the next 17-18 days.

Updates with photos will shortly follow.