I am planning to buy a tiller for de-weeding and cultivation in 3 acres of Mango, 6 acres of banana and 6 Acres of Papaya.
My land is Red gravlelly loam soil and am not sure whether Mini tiller / power weeder models works in this. I am talking to dealrers of Oleo-mac / Texas / Crompton Greaves. They are rated between 5 to 9 HP and inidcated cost is between Rs 65,000 to 90,000. One of them says that Mini tiller will not work properly in gravelly soil while other says it can be managed, but the rotovator blades need to be replaced more frequently. I have enclosed sample photos of my land and mini tiller models.
I have also spoken to a VST power tiller dealer and he is suggesting to go with Power tiller with cultivator option. He is willing to buyback rotovator at cost of around 25,000 and provide cultivator for about 8,000. which works out effectively Rs 1,37,000 (VST Shakti 130 DI - Rs 1,54,700).
In either case, i am planning to avail 40% subsidy on these. I would like have suggestions from this forum
a) Is the mini tiller option feasible for gravelly soil like mine and can i go ahead with this option? (I would like to minimize farm expenses to minimum at this point)
b) Considering the soil type,is it better to go for Power tiller with cultivator option? Is the additional investment of Rs 70,000 is worth spending? Also, is the buy back amount for rotovator reasonable?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
