While farmers are facing a shortage of labourers, a progressive farmer near Padre in Kasargod district has installed a ropeway that helps him transport farm produce from the elevated area of his farmland to the yard of his house.
This is particularly useful as labour problems continue to haunt the agriculture sector, the farmer Sajamgadde Srihari Bhat told DH.
Using pulleys and an 8-mm iron cable rope tied to pillars, he is able to transport all the farm produce to the yard of his house with ease. “Earlier, I used to carry all the farm produce harvested on my head and use the help of labourers. The ropeway saves time, energy and is easy to operate,” Bhat said.
The ropeway is also used for transporting fertilisers and manure to the farmland from the yard of the house.
The areca nut plantation is situated in an elevated area. About 50 kilograms of areca nuts, filled in bags, are transported without any hard work to the yard of the house.
He said, “I visited Gajanana Vaze, a progressive farmer from Mundaje in Belthangady, who had developed a similar ropeway to transport rubber latex from the hilltop to the base. He guided me on the equipment needed for developing this ropeway. Later, I approached scrap dealers in Mangaluru as I hunted for the required equipment.”
“The ropeway has been built with the help of two pulleys, clamps and nine-foot-high iron pillars. I had purchased an 8-mm thick iron cable for the ropeway. One of the pulleys moves on the cable while another pulley is installed to the pillar in the yard with the help of a nylon rope. My friend Saipangallu Murali too has helped me in the creation of the ropeway. I have laid a path to move around in the plantation.”
‘Can be modified’
“Using a two-wheeler pulling cart, I can move all over the plantation and collect the farm produce. The collected farm produce, including bananas, areca nuts, etc, are transported through the ropeway. The ropeway can also be modified depending upon the requirement of the farmers,” he said.
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