Low-cost drum seeder tech getting popular in Sherpur

Farmers in the Sherpur district’s Nakla upazila are gradually opting for the low-cost drum seeder technology hoping for a higher yield with less investment and labour.

Direct wet-seeding by a drum seeder is an alternative method to the conventional planting of rice.

In this method, direct seeding can be done either by hand broadcasting or by using a drum seeder. According to the Department of Agricultural Extension officials, Drum Seeder Technology requires less labour, save costs, and gives 10-15 per cent higher yield than transplanted rice.

The seeds are pre-soaked for 24 hours, which is followed by 12 hours of incubation for germination.

The seed drum is filled up to three fourth capacities and the drum seeder is dragged on a uniformly levelled

field to manage weeds. On average, this improved technology recorded 8 per cent higher grain yield (6096kg/ha) than farmers local practices (5677 kg/ha), according to a journal by JS Sudharani.

Farmers in the district said that direct sowing by drum seeder is only a viable option to reduce the cost of rice cultivation and increase net return due to less seed rate, fewer labour requirements at the time of sowing and growing paddy sapling was not needed.

Visiting the farms, farmers were seen busy prepping their equipment, seeds, cropland and seedbeds in the locality.

The farmers said paddy drum seeder requires a manual operation. It covers six to eight rows of 20cm row-to-row spacing, comprising of perforated small circular drums and two concentric wheels at both the ends of the equipment, which facilitates ease of movement to the farmers.

They said they spend Tk 3,000 to Tk 4,000 to make this ground-breaking agricultural equipment locally, which is cost-effective. The traditional method of rice transplanting costs much higher, said Shahab Uddin, a farmer of Runigaon village of the upazila.

“The traditional method requires 15 to 20 workers to transplant paddy seeds to one acre of land in one day. The same amount of cropland can be cultivated by one farmer, requiring less labour and cost with the equipment,” he said.

“Although it is more suitable for Aush and Boro cultivation, other varieties of paddy, such as Aman, can also be properly cultivated by the equipment,” Shahab added.

Abdul Wadud, the Agriculture Officer of Nakla upazila, told The Business Post that they are contacting the local farmers and are trying to raise interest among them to opt for drum seeder based farming method.

“This method is 10 to 20 per cent efficient, and farmers can harvest 12 to 15 days earlier than traditional Ropa method. This method is also easy to save cost, labour-friendly and labour-efficient.

Wadud said that farmers had cultivated paddy in 12 (4.85 hectares) acres of cropland by the drum seeder

method this season. They are also preparing 806 hectares of land for new seedbeds.