From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jul 14: A batch of students of Gopalan College of Engineering and Management, Whitefield have innovated a machine which can help the farmers to easily harvest sugarcane.
As farmers find it difficult to harvest sugarcane due to the scarcity of labourers, the students - Manoj Bhimappa, Praveen Gowda, Punith Raghavendra and Shashank - from final year mechanical engineering branch of Gopalan College of Engineering and Management) under the guidance of Asst. Prof.. Arasu Kumar spent days and days at rural areas to understand the problems in harvesting.
They came up with a working model prototype machine for harvesting sugarcane. This magic machine for runs on a two-stroke Petrol Engine having 6.29 HP, 145.45 cc and the Chainsaw Cutters are operated by a battery.
Interestingly, only one person is enough to operate the machine and harvest tonnes and tonnes of sugarcane. It is not just economical but very low on maintenance and very easy to handle besides eliminating the need for any skilled operators. The machine works in such a way that during the sugarcane cutting process, the root and the leaf sheath is separated and leaves behind only the stalk of the sugarcane.
Addressing a press conference, Gopalan Group Director C Prabhakar said: ``We have worked with farmers in their fields to understand the practical difficulties faced by them and have found a solution to improve the efficiency of the machine to suit the farmers’ need. The farmers have used our machine and it has been very beneficial for them."
The students clarified that their intent behind the project was not to reduce the labour but to cut down the burden of farmers during harvesting. The cost of machine is approximately Rs 25,000 to 30,000 and can significantly reduce when it can be mass produced.
India is the second largest sugarcane producing country after Brazil and Karnataka is one of the largest sugarcane producing states in our country. The three major factors attributing to the problems faced by farmers during sugarcane harvesting is economy, labour and time.