As requested by Sri Chandra , I would like to dwelve upon some of the implements used in rice farming .
When the question of tilling comes I prefer a light weight power tiller instead of a tractor since tractor weighs much more than a tiller. Using tractors results in uneven land which requires much levelling. Besides, the weight of the tractor makes the land like a hard pan.
For rice transplanting we may use a marker. Drawing the marker length wise and breadth wise makes a grid like impression on the wet field. Rice saplings are planted at the intersections.
For direct seeding of rice, drum seeder is used. At a stretch it sows eight rows of seeds. The rice sprout shouldn’t be too long for drum seeder.
After 15 days of transplanting / direct seeding, weeding should be started. Under SRI method where the seedlings are sown in a grid pattern , use of cono weeder is beneficial. The main problem with cono weeder is clogging of clay on the wheels. Motorized cono weeders solve this problem to a certain extent.
For spraying of pest repellents , manual sprayer or power sprayer may be employed.
I prefer manual harvest to machine harvest. Harvester combines usually exert a lot of weight on the damp soil which makes the land harder. As an alternative we can use brush cutter type rice harvester or motorized reapermay be employed.
Hope this post gives a bird’s eye view on rice farming tools in general.
