Improved Sickle for Rosemary Harvesting
Solar Tunnel Drier
In the beginning the farmers dried the rosemary leaves in the open sunlight which is prone to contamination and the quality was deteriorated by the natural calamities. Keeping these constraints in mind, MKVK approached bio-energy Department of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) for solar tunnel drier for trial based use. It was successful and leaves could be dried in 8-10 hours which is far lesser than the open sun drying. Apart from that it ensures the quality of the product.
Turmeric boiler
Though turmeric is one of the major crop in Erode district, labour scarcity for boiling turmeric is the crucial situation. Kendra demonstrated Turmeric boiler to reduce the labour scarcity and gender friendly technology. The inside containers which hold turmeric can easily be taken out without wasting boiling water, which can be re-used and thereby water and fuel requirement can be saved considerably.
Advantages of the technology are:
- Enhanced boiling and quality improvement in colour
- Reduces drying time and drudgery on women
Paddy parboiling drum
The farmers in Kallipatti area of T.N.Palayam block of Erode District area cultivating Paddy in large scale. The farm families face problem of boiling paddy for lesser quantity. MKVK demonstrated paddy Parboiling drum at household level. In this technology, the water can be heated by burning fire wood or agricultural waste. After the completion of first boiling, the remaining water can be used for next boiling.
Advantages of the technology are:
- Uniform parboiling and increased head rice recovery up to 95%
- Takes 45 minutes for parboiling for the first time of soaked paddy and 25 minutes for the subsequent boiling
Tellicherry goat
Power weeder
Weeding is one of the major operations in the crop production which directly influences the yield of the crop. It requires more man power and higher wages are the problems faced by the farmers. Kendra demonstrated Power weeder (150 acres) for weeding in a wide spaced cotton crop. The same technology also used for banana and sugarcane cultivation. 36.5% cost of cultivation and 97.5% time & man power was saved.
Green house vegetable cultivation - Capsicum
Erode district has a potential area and conducive climate for vegetable cultivation, majority of the vegetable crops are cultivated as an intercrop till 2005. Potential market value and awareness on cultivation of vegetable crops has triggered interest in cultivating vegetables as a major crop among the farmers. The farmers also realized the importance of collective/co-operative farming rather than individual farming and they have formed a group called “Sangamam Hi-tech Horticulture Cultivation” and 15 members enrolled in this group. To impart the green house vegetable production technology, Kendra organized training cum exposure at IIHR, Bangalore. With the continuation of this programme, all the group members established poly house unit with the size of 1500 Sq.mt. which cost Rs.7 lakh. per unit under National Sponsored programme NHM.
Banana bunch cover
Erode is a major horticulture belt in the state. Banana is the main horticultural crop cultivated in 5300 ha. which includes Poovan, Red banana, Kadali, Nendran and Robusta varieties. Even though, farmers who have been adopted for many techniques for cultivation which fetches good yield. But it resulted in poor market value. The reason for the low price was that the desired quality of fruit was not up to the mark. In order to solve the problem, Kendra conducted the demonstration on bunch cover techniques which resulted;
- Uniform ripening and shinning of fruits
- Increase the shelf life
- Increase yield by 5-25%
- Increase the market value up to 15 to 20 Rs. per bunch
Banana Pseudo stem trap
Banana is one of the major crops of Erode district grown in nearly 5300 ha of land wherein pseudo stem weevil is a specific insect, wide spread in banana growing region causing major havock to the crop. The badly affected plants break of easily during heavy wind and cause yield loss to the farmers. Kendra has taken up 80 demonstrations of the same and this has resulted in 80% reduction in pest damage. 40 stem traps with the cut end smeared with Beaveria bassiana have to be placed in an acre in order to attract and mass trap of pseudo stem weevil.
Castor fermented solution
It is an insect attractant, which is used to manage white grubs by attracting and mass trapping the adult beetles towards their sources. White grubs are considered as a major pest in groundnut, sugarcane, cotton, rosemary and vegetable. Large scale demonstrations (300 acres) were taken up on usage of these traps in cotton and groundnut. Attractants form good tool of IPM, since they do not disrupt the eco-system or food chain.
Re-cycling of human faeces (Ecosan) for field application
A field experiment was conducted on “Recycling process of human waste (through eco-sanitation concepts) to enhance productivity in maize” in Talavadi hills of Erode district. Ecosan compost was applied to the maize crop, it improved the growth parameters (Cob length, Cob girth, Stem girth) though it showed diminishing effect on plant height. Thus, Ecosan compost can be utilized as an organic manure to improve the crop productivity and to maintain its quality. Further, being eco friendly; improve soil health by positive effect on physical properties, chemical characteristics and biological attributes of soil. Soil- Water- Plant relationship will have harmonious effects on the environment and ecology of the region there’s assisting in tiding over the adverse impact of climate change.
