Presentation at the Workshop on Crop Production Equipment for the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
Presenter: Dr. B. J. Pandian: TNAU, India
Title: Development of SRI Transplanter
Date: November 1, 2014
Venue: ACISAI, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
3. Total geographical area (km2
) 1,30,069
Total population (million) 66.4
Total cultivable area (million ha)
7.99
(2001-02)
Total paddy area (million ha)
1.93
(2006-07)
Paddy area (%) to total
cultivable area
24.16
Major rice season(s)
Jun – Sep,
Aug – Jan,
Dec– Apr
Total paddy production (million
tonnes)
9.92
(2006-07)
State’s contribution to national 7.08
paddy production (%)
Paddy productivity (t ha-1)
5.14
(2006-07)
All-India rank in productivity 2
Constraints in paddy cultivation
Water &
labour
FACTS ABOUT RICE FARMING IN TAMIL NADU
4. Man power requirement for transplanting is 30 man days/ha
Transplanting cost at Rs 150/day will be Rs 4500/HA
Transplanting cost for mechanical transplanting alone = 3500/HA
8. Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan
Sornavari
(<120)
Kuruvai
(<120)
Late
samba/Tha
ladi
Navarai
(<120)
Early
kar(<120)
Early samba 130-
135
Late
Pishanam
Kar Samba
Late
Thaladi
9. Agency : Green Indus Agro tech
Pvt. Ltd Tanjore
Operation : Delta Districts.
Activity : Custom Hiring, Sale of
transplanters
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. Transplanter used : Daedong (South Korea)
Specification : 6 Row 30 cm spacing
Field capacity : 4.4 ac/day of 8hrs
Operator : one @ Rs 333/day*
Helper :One @Rs 200/day
Fuel consumption : 2.75 to 3 lit petrol/hr
The team will have to transplant a minimum of 5
acres/day and for coverage over 8acres/day Rs 100/
acre is given as incentive
17. Cost of six row 4WD Transplanter – 10,00,000
Cost after 50% subsidy - 5,00,000
Target pay back period - 500hrs
Warranty provided by dealer for first 500 hrs of use.
The customer should compulsorily service the
transplanter after 500hrs of use.
Trained operators services are provided along with
each transplanter sold.
Most service providers have one to two transpalnters
18. Sl.N
o
Cost classification Cost (Rs/acre)
1 Cost of Machine 1000
2 Fuel 250
3 Operator 67
4 Helper 40
5 Maintenance 100
6 Transport of machine 100
Total 1557
19. Sl.No Cost calssification Cost (Rs/acre)
1 Operating Cost 1560
2 Seed 440
3 Sowing labour 100
4 Polyethylene sheet 25
5 Total cost/ac 2125 ~2200
6 Custom rate for
transplanting with
nursery/ac
3000
7 Profit to service provider/ac 800
8 Management-overhead Nursery maintenance-one
supervisor and one Manager
for overall management
9 Machinery transport 15000/month contract
20. Agency : Rakkappa Farms
Melavaniyangudi,
Sivagangai
Propriter : K.Kanna Subramanian,MA
Operation : Supplies mat seedling all
over state
Activity : Sale of seedling mat grown on
coirpith and custom transplanting
22. Sl.No Cost Calssification Cost in Rs
1 Cost of one tray 25
2 No of trays/ac 70
3 Cost of seedling including
transporting
1750
4
Cost of custom transplanting Rs 20/tray
5 Transplanting cost 1400
6
Total cost of transplanting 3150/ac
7
Complete package with seedling 4500/ac
26. Agency : PACs (10 Nos.) Salem Dist
(More than 2200 PACS to setup Agro service centers )
Initiative : Joint Registrar of cooperatives
Operation : Custom hiring of VST Yanji Transplanters
weeders , tractors and Power tillers
Activity :Tray nursery raised at farmers holdings
with or without SRI template seeder
Transplanting done by Green army
voluenteers
Cost Rs 3000/ac
27. Under the Tegra technology, paddy seedlings are
grown in a special media comprising straw, soil,
nutrients, chemicals and other such things in a tray.
The seedlings are developed in a nursery and then
replanted after 15 days with a special transplant
machinery. Syngenta offers the technology at Rs 75 a
tray and an acre requires 70 trays
There are reportedly seven centers in Tamil Nadu for
providing transplanting services
Now cost of crop care concept works out to Rs 6000/ac
The transplanter service provider will get Rs 20/tray
Video
29. Rapid growth with coverage of 5% area at present
Emergence of centralized nursery for supply of
seedlings at Sivaganga, Kumbakonam andVaipoor
Emergence of transplanter service providers.
Subsidy on machines by government is a great driver
Mechanized transplanting has spread in delta and
slowly increasing in other districts
High demand for mechanized transplanting in
Northern districts of Kancheepuram, Chengalpet
Thruvannamalai.
Trend seems to favour custom hiring services
30.
31. System of Rice Intensification (SRI)System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
Younger
seedlings
(14-15 days old)
Reduction in
nursery area &
seed rate
(100 m2
/ha
7.5kg/ha
Alternate
wetting
and Drying
Mechanical
weeding
(4 times from
10 DAT)
Square Planting
of single seedling
& wider Spacing
(25 x 25 cm)
Components
45. TNAU – SRI GREEN ARMY
Mechanical ‘Yanchi’ Rice Transplanter
“Due to square planting, there was enough aeration and sun light
between plants. In addition there was no rat problem”
Area covered: 100 acres of (100 farmers) SRI in pillekothur,
Pathakotta, Podur, Gangapuram, Gobachandram, Kamandoddi and
Kaverinagar.
Each machine covered 2.5 ac per day and farmers were charged
Rs.1500/ac.
Benefits: Time saving and better yield
Average Yield: 3.30 t / ac (Demo); conventional (2.60 t/ ac)
Pennaiyar (upto Krishnagiri) Sub basin
TNAU – SRI GREEN ARMY
Mechanical ‘Yanchi’ Rice Transplanter
“Due to square planting, there was enough aeration and sun light
between plants. In addition there was no rat problem”
Area covered: 100 acres of (100 farmers) SRI in pillekothur,
Pathakotta, Podur, Gangapuram, Gobachandram, Kamandoddi and
Kaverinagar.
Each machine covered 2.5 ac per day and farmers were charged
Rs.1500/ac.
Benefits: Time saving and better yield
Average Yield: 3.30 t / ac (Demo); conventional (2.60 t/ ac)
Pennaiyar (upto Krishnagiri) Sub basin
World bank New Innovations
46. Comparative performance of SRI- Mechanical
Rice transplanter with other methods of rice cultivation
Particulars
Conventional
random
planting
SRI
SRI with
mechanical rice
transplanter
Plant population (m-2
) 24 19.75 17.65
No. of seedlings (hill-1
) 5.2 1.4 2.9
Age of seedlings 22.5 15.9 17.8
No. of productive tillers (hill-1
) 14.1 24.6 28.7
No. of grains (panicle -1
) 184.1 209.7 208
Grain yield (kg/ha) 6400 8000 8275
Man hours consumed 1778 1153 903
labour producutivity 3.6 6.9 9.2
Irrigation water used 1180 885 921
Water productivity 5.4 9.04 8.98
47. Hurdles faced in the farmers’ field
Sieved soil was used in many locations to avoid small stones if
not hinders planting
Incidence of sucking pest in the nurseries probably due to
enriched rooting media
Experienced drivers only could achieve square planting in the
entire field
Main field preparation to the needed condition was a problem
and convincing the farmer to dry the field was a major hurdle
Being canal irrigated area, water management during initial
period was so cumbersome
Matching sowing of nursery and main field preparation was
also tough; so as to plant at appropriate age of seedlings
51. Comparative performance of SRI- Mechanical
Rice transplanter with other methods of rice cultivation
Name of the Sub basin : ARANIYAR
Name of the Activity : SRI-Machine
Transplanting
Total Physical Target : 100 acres
Total No of Beneficiaries : 18
Comparison of SRI and Machine Transplanting over Conventional Method
Conventional.
Yield
(kg ha-1
)
SRI
Yield
(kg ha-1
)
SRI Machine
Transplantin
g Yield
(kg ha-1
)
Increase in grain yield
in Machine
Transplanting over
Conventional
(%)
Increase in grain yield
in SRI over conventional
(%)
5654 6733 6708 18.64 19.08