Manipur Farmer Honored With ‘National Innovation Award’ For Producing Tractor-Operated ‘Taro Harvester’

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, presented the award to outstanding farmers during a three-day festival of innovation and entrepreneurship held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the national Capital from April 10-13, 2023.

Yanglem Brajamani Singh, a farmer from Manipur, was awarded the National Innovation Award at the 11th National Biennial Grassroots Invention Awards 2023 for his tractor-operated taro harvester and washer machine.

The Union Ministry of Science and Technology introduced national invention prizes, which were handed to 'grassroot innovators'.

Yanglem Brajamania, a resident of Keinou Phiral Makhong village in Manipur's Bishnupur district, told HT over the phone after getting the award that it took roughly 4 to 5 years to build the final shape of the taro harvesting machine.

"Being from a farming family, I've been struggling a lot to find an easy way for harvesting taro on our agricultural land because taro harvesting is done using a spade and it takes days to harvest and we end up spending a lot of money on the wages of the labourers," Brajamani explained.

"I've also tried machines made outside of the state." However, it was not appropriate for our fields."

"Since then, I've been working on developing this machine, and it's finally come to its current shape," he added.

Taro harvesters are tractor-mounted implements that are powered by PTO (Power Take Off).

During the operation, a steel blade digger digs into the earth, and taro corms are released backwards by the conveyer's constant movement.

A farmer can harvest one hectare in 10 hours with this implement and three people, including a tractor driver, whereas it takes almost a week to harvest the same area using five labourers.

After harvesting, the washer is a cylindrically formed body attached to the tractor to wash and clean the yam.

When compared to manual taro harvesting and washing processes, the machine dramatically reduced drudgery because human harvesting requires kneeling and bending positions.

Source-Hindustan Times

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