Berhampur: Farmers have to go through innumerable problems for harvesting their hard sown paddy. While harvesting includes reaping, stacking, handling, threshing, cleaning and hauling, the daunting task often leaves the farmers tired and weak.
Moreover, the job cannot done individually, it requires at a lot of labour. As per traditional practice, the farmers, as they cannot pay money, pay with rice. So, by the end, they themselves are left with very little paddy that hardly makes out to their months hard work and loans taken.
However, now the whole process of harvesting can be done individually, thanks to the timeless invention of Babula Gouda, a Class V student of Merikota panchayat based Upper Primary School under Sorada block in Ganjam district, 100km away from Berhampur.
Babula, son of Uday Gouda and Sashi Gouda, both farmers, has invented the smart paddy harvest machine that is environment-friendly, light weight, manually operated solar harvester which would be very helpful for farmers. The boy showcased his invention at a science exhibition in his school that left everyone dumbfounded including his teachers.
As it would struck as to what kind of a machine the Class V boy has invented. But, surprisingly, the boy has fitted all kind of modern facilities that will not only make the farmer’s work easy, but will entertain them at the same time.
Yes, you heard it right. The paddy harvester is equipped with an umbrella like hood to protect the farmers from sun and rain. It has also a fan to get cool air while working under sun. Not only that, it has also a torch light to help the user negotiate in dark. Music facility, compass to know direction, FM radio and thermometer to know temperature are some other features the simple yet modern machine has.
The farmers can listen to music and enjoy radio facility, making the machine first of its kind. Apart from normal harvesting, the machine can also be used to spray pesticides too. While a solar panel is fixed to provide energy to the machine, it is also fitted with a battery to store solar power. Even more interesting is that the machine can be operated with android mobile phone.
Asked Babula what prompted him to work on such a device, his answer is “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Both of his parents-father Uday and mother Shashi are farmers. “I often saw my parents working in the field, facing lot difficulties. Once it struck my mind why should not I give a try to find out something to make their job easier. And thus the machine has been invented,” he quips.
Praises from different quarters have started pouring for the boy of a remote area lauding his successful effort. However, he and his teachers requested the administration to help the boy showcase his invention to the world so that farmers around can gain the benefits of the machine.
PNN