Naga farmer receives IARI Innovative Farmers Award 2021

March 3, 2021 79 Views No Comment

Our Correspondent
Kohima | March 2

Medoveyi Tetseo from Nagaland has been conferred with IARI Innovative Farmers Award 2021 by Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) under the aegis of Centre for Agricultural Technology Assessment & Transfer.

Tetseo hails from Thipuzu village of Phek district.

He received the award at New Delhi on February 27 from Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Government of India during Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela.

Tetseo adopted various technologies such as improved Kiwi fruit production technology including pruning and thinning, improved production technology of persimmon fruit, improved varieties of pea, French bean, potato etc. He also developed a low cost portable paddy thresher.

Phek district is an agrarian district with over 70% of its population dependent on agriculture and its allied sectors.

Rice is the staple food of the region and is cultivated under jhum and terrace cultivation systems. Threshing is an important post-harvest activity in paddy and done manually by beating the paddy bundles on the floor or by trampling i.e. use of bare feet to thresh the crop. This practice of threshing involves high drudgery and is less efficient in terms of time and quality.

“Realizing the problem associated with paddy threshing, I developed a low cost diesel operated paddy thresher in 2019.

The body of the machine is drum type and made of steel to withstand maximum wear and tear. The machine is mounted over a wooden stand. The machine runs on 9.6 Hp power and is operated with diesel. Paddy is fed from the rear and led to the threshing cylinder where the iron spikes act upon the straws and separate the husk from the grain. The paddy grains and the husk are dropped on the iron net through which the grains are collected on the ground. The threshing machine has the capacity of 500-600 kg/hour compared to 15-18 kg/hour manually,” Tetseo shared.

The machine-threshed grains are much cleaner with less broken rice compared to manual-threshed paddy. Total expenditure for developing the machine is approximately Rs 50,000.

Speaking about his innovation, Tetseo stated “As my innovation is new in the region, it has created a great demand in my own village as well as in the neighbouring villages. The machine is also being hired by my fellow farmers for threshing of paddy in the village.”

The impact included the contribution of the farmers in terms of new package of practices/management strategies, saving of resources/inputs etc.

Tetseo’s road to winning the award began with the recommendation by senior scientist and Head I/C, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Phek, ICAR -NRC Mithun Porba, Phek district.

Source: https://morungexpress.com/naga-farmer-receives-iari-innovative-farmers-award-2021