Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

`Tropicultor' useful for dryland farmers

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD Sept. 20. `Tropicultor', an animal-drawn user-friendly toolbar with attachments that facilitate several agricultural operations, developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), is bringing cheer back to the faces of dryland farmers in Telangana and Rayalaseema.

This animal-drawn machine is useful in dryland agriculture and is a common sight now in the parched fields of Ranga Reddy, Medak, Mahboobnagar, Nalgonda and Anantapur. A visit to a field near Majidpur village of Shamirpet mandal of Ranga Reddy district gives an insight into the usefulness of the instrument. Some officials like the PD of the Drought Prone Area programme and the ED of the Scheduled Castes Service Cooperative Society Limited of Nalgonda, DPAP officials of Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy who have taken the initiative to empower farmers with the toolbar are now happy with their choice.

An activist of `Spoorthi', an NGO, Moorthy said "it is a small but useful instrument in dryland cropping. A farmer could take up primary and secondary tillage work with ease now. Moreover, there is a sharing arrangement among the farmers here.''

Laxma Reddy, a small farmer, says "for pulses, millets and oilseeds which are usually grown under rainfed agriculture, I find it very convenient. I am able to do the primary job in no time. About five acres could be tilled in a day.''

Ploughing, ridging, inter-culture and sowing with facility to convert the toolbar into a bullock cart for transportation are the special features of the machine. Though at present there are about 100 `Tropicultor' operating with various Watershed Committees in the five districts, efforts are on to popularise it further.

The Collector of Nalgonda, R.P.Sisodia, says "Tropicultor was accepted because of ICRISAT design initially. We got four pieces in the district with a 33 per cent subsidy from Department of Agriculture and 50 per cent loan. One advantage with this is that like a tractor it is a multipurpose machine and there is no requirement of mechanical power in operating it.'' Watershed committees could hire these instruments to the farmers at nominal rent. A rural development consultant, Kishore Mudiraj, who is associated with `Spoorthi' adds "increase in yield, uniform depth of seed placement and crop growth, easy fitment of attachments and operation, reduction in labour charges and pesticide consumption and saving in seed and fertilizer cost are the benefits involved.

Will the ICRISAT toolbar turn out to be a boon to dryland farmers in the State as 67 per cent of agriculture is now under it?

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