Raju Kumar Chaudhry is a zealous farmer of village Kodarkatta Puran Tola, block Motipur, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, and he owns several farm machines. He became associated with project Gram Utthan of PTC Foundation, which is implemented by S M Sehgal Foundation, through a Kishan Gosthi organized in 2017. He always wanted to see reforms in agriculture particularly in the context of farm machinery. A subsidized potato planter was given to him in 2017 by the project team, and he benefits by saving labor cost (about INR 3,500 per acre), reduction of human drudgery, smooth irrigation, easier intercultural operations, and increases in yield by about 1.5–3 quintals per 0.5 acre (the absolute quantity of yield when using potato planter is about 55–66 quintal/acre). Raju now apprises other farmers of the utility of this machine.
| Year |
Increase in production using potato planter |
| 2017 |
1.5–2.0 quintal/0.5 acre |
| 2018 |
2–2.5 quintal/0.5 acre |
| 2019 |
2–2.75 quintal/0.5 acre |
| 2020 |
2.5–3 quintal/0.5 acre |
Authors: Ashutosh Singh and Ellora Mubashir
(Ashutosh is Assistant Program Lead, Agriculture in Bihar and Ellora is Manager, Partnerships at S M Sehgal Foundation)
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