Solving farmers' problems through new designs

Hi all,

Discovery of this forum made my day. I am a product designer working to develop new machines for farmers. I come from farming family but lost touch with agriculture because of the studies. After working for govt for three years now I am back to use my education and training to help sustaining the profitability of farming in India.

I am constantly scouting for new problems. I have designed and fabricated one cotton picking machine and working on new problems.

Can anyone suggest which all areas I can work which are burning problems of the farmers and a mechanical intervention can solve the problem.

FB

hey birdie !
great to know about your background. industrial engineering is the need for today!
lot of countries already have a lot of research and development in this area… sadly india is lacking behind.
the main reason is the cost factor + i think these machineries are more economical for large farms.
anyways, i was watching some videos, and there was this mechanical attachment in which the farmer would load trays, and the machine would automatically plant the sapling in the soil. rice was being sown in the video, and about 8-10 plants at one go. i was really impressed.
i’ll post the link when i find it. i am really interested in such innovations and technology.

let me know what all possibilities have you thought of.

vvk

P.S. Glad to know your day was great :slight_smile:

Welcome flyingbird.

Innovations in small machinery are the biggest need of the day and there is a lot of scope in the area. Small intercultivators, weeders, transplanters, load carriers, mini no-till drills, crimpers are some of the areas on top of my mind.

I would also love to see a micro combine harvester, as small as possible that can address a variety of crops.

addition for the list below

Energyless (non motorised) brush cutters or de-weeders. See below pictures for hints.
Enrgyless seed drills.

Tractor mounted plasctic mulching driller. See below video for hint.
youtube.com/watch?v=biERM44xhYk

I will add more when I get more time



Hey viks,

Thanks for your reply. There are endless opportunities in this field. I have seen those trans-planters for paddy but they are way too expensive and are not very successful in India. Kerala govt has started providing services for this machine to small farmers.

FB

Hey Chandra,

Unfortunately corporate houses never come out with multi crop solutions as this reduces their business opportunity. We are working on weeder at present. Any pointers here?

FB

Sri

those are interesting ones. After visiting farms and interacting with farmers I have developed this feeling that energy/cost can still be managed but what they want is something which makes their life easier and they don’t have to depend on human labour.

I strongly feel that less power hungry economic solutions may still work in India. For example there are so many brush cutters which are being sold in India and are well received by farmers. These brush cutters are also used as harvester as well.

What do you think about this powered vs powerless machines?

FB

Brush cutter needs at aleast 6-7 lt of petrol which will cost 500-550/- + one days labour 350. 1 acre of deweeding cost 900/-
I have not accounted engine oil+Accessories like blades,nylon ropes etc.

My point is if a bycycle mounted weeder is there 500/ day can be reduced. This is my value addition. (assuming one labour can de-weed 1 acr/day)

I agree with your point labours want easy to use equipments, but land owners or land owners farming on their own, needs less maintainance, less operating cost equipments.

hi sri/flyingbird,

bicycle altered push mower is great, in similar style if we can get some in lines as below videos that may be helpful.( here these models are driven with power, essence is getting them to perform without use fossil fuels).

youtu.be/8tL19qFc6P4

youtu.be/10zCTcQtKyM

youtu.be/I4kzebMG6rE

youtu.be/6mC7jQbTPm8

youtu.be/F3yVOO8gjrQ

youtu.be/WezWELR-wKc

if we can bring finger weeders use using manual drive it could be more helpful for organic or traditional small farms.

We are on same page. Accidentally I also watched all these videos sunday.

I agree with your point on fossil fuel.

Thank you Sir,

How to regulate the seed seize and sowing of number of seeds.

This is not seed drill. it is plastic mulch drill. you have to use seedling later.

hi naturewrox and Sri

that was a jackpot of innovations.

I found the concept of finger weeding very interesting. Let’s see how useful they are in farms. Hmm I too agree with fossil fuel thing, I need to do more research on this.

Thanks a lot again for the inputs. I will keep you all updated with our progress.

FB

Thank you sir,
If you use Cycle Manual weeder also needs Labor. But the performance not up to the Mark of Power weeder. It is better to use Power weeder.

Do you have any prior experience with cycle driven weeder?
Are these available in the market?

FB

Never seen one myself; but a mechanical or fuel operated mower like Sri posted above would be tremendous help to shear tall grass and weeds. Kind of a brush cutter on wheels.

Dear Sri,

Can you please tel where i can get that bicycle mounted equipment as mentioned by Chandra?
Thanks in advance

It is a tailor made equipment. buy a push lawn mower and fix it as front wheel of a bycycle. see link
google.co.in/search?q=mower … w#imgdii=_

Thank you Sirs,

It is useful only to cut the Grass or weed at upper Portion and will not root out the weed or Grass.
Power Tiller or Power weeder are only be the solutions for root out the weed.If these equipments operates
some times before seeding can made good the Soil weed FREE
MANNE.SN,
Vasudha Green Farms,
vasudhagreenfarms@gmail.com,
9133498366

This is a solution for notill farmers.