Padmapur: School dropout Udaya Sabar is an innovator. From simple agricultural machines to low cost mechanical ploughs, Sabar has designed machines for a variety of uses.
Based in Gudiabandha under Padmapur block in Rayagada district, Sabar says his vision is “to change the agriculture scenario and boost the economy while being environmentally responsible”.
Recently, he has converted an old scooter into a low cost seed sowing machine. It can plant seeds in two acres in one hour with just two litres of petrol. Udaya claims the machine can also plant saplings in rows.
Udaya, a carpenter by profession, is a farmer now and cultivates cotton and paddy in his land. When his economic condition didn’t allow him to use modern equipment for sowing seeds in his land, Udaya realised that agriculture machines are raising the cost of farm produce and adding to the burden of farmers with no adequate returns.
Then he decided to do something to sustain farming in an economical way. He bought an old scooter for Rs.2000 from a person of his village. Using his skills and scooter parts, he devised a seed sowing machine.
Udaya says he is always eager to do something new in his farmland using modern technology. Maintaining tractors and such equipment is costly. So he has invented a low cost mechanical plough using the parts of a pump set. But when he put the machine to test in his land he found it couldn’t plough the dry land. For this the machine required heavy moving parts.
Locals see a lot of potential in Udaya to do something big for the society and feel it’s the responsibility of the administration to give a helping hand to Udaya.
